MAINE PLANS TO KEEP THE POOR POOR - MORE THAN $5000 in the bank? FORGET SNAP!

Washington Post and MAINES PLAN TO KEEP THE POOR IN POVERTY by Roberto A. Ferdman


EXCERPT: a $5,000 cap on the savings and other assets of residents enrolled in the Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Those whose bank accounts, secondary vehicles and homes, and other assets considered non-essential by the government, exceed the limit will no longer be eligible to participate in the food stamp program. An individual's primary home and vehicle won't count toward the limit.




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Here in California, a person on General Relief (a single individual) pay not have more than $1200 in the bank, even though a typical apartment costs almost as much and the first and last rent keeps people out of housing, so they stay on the street or in a shelter for YEARS hoping to save enough in a trust account somewhere for their deposits.  ON SSI/SSDI an individual can have more - $2000.  If you sold your car or your home because you wanted to use that money for renting or an RV or whatever, there is a slippery slope of loss when you need repairs.  We know of homeless people who are homeless due to job loss, age discrimination, sexism, loss of apartments due to tear downs, and so much else.

HAS ANYONE GONE CRAZY ON YOU? VERBAL ABUSE WHEN THEY SEE YOU'RE USING FOODSTAMPS or WIC IN THE CASHIER LINE?

DAILY MAIL UK WALLMART BEZERKER FOUL LANGUAGE ON FOOD STAMP USER

DEPENDING ON WHERE YOU LIVE IN THE UNITES STATES one in five to one in seven of your neighbors are getting at least some assistance with food purchases by using FOOD STAMPS.

FOOD STAMPS ARE AVAILABLE TO THOSE WHO WORK -  THE AMOUNT OF YOUR INCOME and SIZE OF YOUR FAMILY and some other factors are considered.

JEB BUSH - A REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE THAT WANTED TO CUT THE PROGRAMS THAT STOP AMERICANS FROM RIOTING IN THE STREETS

OK SO WE ARE NOT SURPRISED THAT JEB HAS STEPPED DOWN FOR HIS OWN SAKE AND THAT OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY....


HUFFINGTON POST on JEB BUSH - WHO WANTS TO CUT WELFARE and FOOT STAMPS

EXCERPT:  Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush on Friday proposed an overhaul of the U.S. welfare system that would eliminate what he called failing programs for the poor and send the federal dollars from them to the states to develop their own plans.

Bush, continuing an effort to position himself as the most serious, substantive candidate in the race for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, laid out his plan ahead of a poverty forum in South Carolina on Saturday.

Bush said decades of federal policy have not solved the vexing problem of how to help generations of Americans mired in poverty.

"We have spent trillions of dollars on the ‘war on poverty,’ but there are now still more than 46 million Americans living in poverty," he said in a statement laying out his plan.

Bush, a former Florida governor, would take some controversial steps as part of his welfare plan.
He would eliminate the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, formerly called food stamps, housing assistance programs and a cash program called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
He would use the money to give so-called "right to rise" grants to the states to let state governments fund programs they develop as the best way to address poverty.

To encourage more Americans on welfare to seek jobs, Bush would include in "Right to Rise" grants work requirements and time limits for able-bodied adults.


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JEB BUSH is simply out of touch with reality, and our experience is Republicans are more so than Democrats.  He doesn't seem to realize that many adults GAVE UP ON FINDING WORK after long and excruciating job hunts while on unemployment, because they face discrimination, or because their work skills need expensive retraining, or because they have had a work place injury... or simply because there WERE NO JOBS AVAILABLE in a reasonable commute from where they live.  MANY reasons besides being uninterested, unwilling, or lazy.  IF YOU WERE GOING TO LOOSE YOUR HOME or APARTMENT (and maybe your marriage, or your children, wouldn't YOU take "any kind" of job?)

We've met many people who did take part time or low paid work and slid into homelessness more slowly.  People who slowly sold off every valuable possession they had, including their furniture, to live in a vehicle.

WE SAY  JEB, go sleep on the street every night for a month with no money and no family contact and no security guards hovering to protect you. Let us know how it goes.

FEEDING AMERICA STUDY - ONE IN SIX OR SEVEN PEOPLE ON FOOD ASSISTANCE - MILK or PASTA?

HUFF POST - AMERICAN FAMILIES - NUTRICIAN HOUSING HEALTH CARE  full article

EXCERPT:  "According to a 2014 study by Feeding America, one in seven people in the U.S. receives food assistance from its nationwide network of 200 member food banks every year.
That’s 46.5 million people who need help putting food on the table -- while also struggling to balance other everyday necessities that many others take for granted, like nutrition, housing and health care. Even with help from generous organizations like Feeding America, families still face tough choices when it comes to providing the most nutritious food possible, with many resorting to coping strategies like watering down food and nutritious beverages to make them last longer.
Faced with this harsh reality of hunger that millions of Americans experience, we’ve partnered with The Great American Milk Drive to spotlight the difficult decisions people must make to keep their families going..."

FEEDING AMERICA

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Our posts about food stamps and restaurants that take EBT are very popular.  We know people who go from one food bank to the next because their SSI or SSDI isn't enough to live on.

SELLING EBT- SNAP CALFRESH - FOR CASH - IT HAPPENS! HOW AND WHY!

Selling and buying EBT - SNAP  (government food benefits that used to be called Food Stamps and is also known in California as CalFresh) is not supposed to happen but it's happening.  Officially you can get into big trouble if caught.  But we get so many hits on our posts about such things, we thought we should say more about it.

People simply need the cash for any number of things including over the counter medication (who can afford a trip all the way to an emergency room just to get sent away hours later with over the counter medication?), sanitary supplies (easily $10 a month), shoes (wear out fast when you have to walk everywhere), new underwear and socks and bras (rarely given out at clothing giveaways or available at thrift shops and besides at thrift stores there are never dressing rooms for try ons and who can afford to spend the money when there are no returns), gas for their vehicle, stamps and postal box fees...you name it... not just cigarettes, beer, drugs.

OK so here is the slippery slope of trading food benefits for other goods.

1) NOT FRAUD!

A family member or friend who is doing way better than you actually invites you over for a party or meal and you want to contribute something.  So you go shopping with them and then use your EBT -SNAP to pay for some groceries.  You get to eat some of what you bought and some of what they provided. We feel no guilt.  But we will have to go to a food bank to make up for it.

This is a lot like living at a shelter that serves one, two, or three meals a day to residents.  Sure if you stay there all day every day you will eat, but you might not get enough food, healthy food, and what happens when you need to get out and go?  (APPLY FOR EBT if you are not on SSI/SSDI etc.)

2) MAYBE

Someone at the shelter has a car and you ask them to give you a ride.  They say you have to pay gas and you have no money for gas so instead you offer to buy them groceries in exchange.  Maybe a tuna salad and some cola on your card.  The  exchange is pretty even.  A couple gallons of gas to get you where you need to go. We feel no guilt.

3) VERY LIKELY

You go shopping with someone specifically to pay for their groceries and then they look at the receipt and give you the amount just spent in cash.  (A great deal by the way!  We hear of people giving 24% of the total so they are basically buying their own groceries real cheap.)

4) TOTALLY ILLEGAL on YOUR PART and that of the MERCHANTS.

You go into a store - usually an independently owned corner store where the owner will give you a certain percentage of cash based on your purchase.  Basically you put, say $20 of retail groceries on your EBT which they bought wholesale and they KEEP the groceries and get to sell them again.  How much do you get?  We hear as low as 25 cents on the dollar, meaning that for the $20 in cash you may have to "buy" groceries worth $80.  Seeing what a raw deal this is, you can tell a person is desperate for cash.  However, some people find this better - more sure and less humiliating or risky with the police - than begging or panhandling.

5) TOTALLY ILLEGAL on YOUR PART and that of the BUYER.
You place an ad on  a Craigs List type Internet sales and trading place saying you have a card for sale.  When the buyer arrives you hand over your card, give them the pin number, they give you the cash agreed upon and go buy groceries at what is usually a big discount for them.  (Wouldn't going to a food bank be a better option to supplement grocery buying?) Then you go to your social services and claim that you lost the card or it was stolen from you.  Really bad karma!

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED TO CALL FOOD BANKS - ASK ABOUT THEIR HOMELESS POLICIES

We have a list of about 20 FOOD BANKS and would like some volunteers to call them.  We prefer that you use your own cell or other phone and we have a list of questions for each of them.  Would you like to help us so we can report on what these food bank's have to offer the homeless?

Some food banks have more to offer the homeless than others.

If so, please leave a COMMENT with your e-mail address.  One of us will e-mail you about this little project.  We do not publish these comments so your name and e-mail address will not be seen by the world.

THANKS!

OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS MAYBE THE ANSWER TO GETTING YOUR EATING HABITS UNDER CONTROL : SAN FERNANDO VALLEY INFO MEETINGS 2014

OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS ORG   NATIONAL

OA SAN FERNANDO VALLEY

INFO LINE  818- 342-2222

OFFICE  818 881-4776

DO YOU EAT WHEN YOU ARE NOT HUNGRY?
DO YOU BINGE? PURGE? OR RESTRICT?
IS YOUR WEIGHT AFFECTING YOUR LIFE?

OA of San Fernando Valle4y
7133-B Darby Avenue,  Reseda CA  91335

Hear a panel of speakers and get your questions answered.

WHEN YOU JOIN OA  there are NO DUES, NO FEES, NO WEIGH INS and NO DIETS!

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On our HOW TO BE A GOOD ROOM MATE PAGE we mention that YOU SHOULD BE WORKING ON YOURSELF as a focus rather than SITTING OUT GOSSIPING.  If you're in a shelter, you should be using your time there for SELF IMPROVEMENT and getting control of your eating is important.  So, you're overeating or eating bad foods may mean being overweight and overweight leads to bad health and discrimination against the overweight.




August 2016 This post edited... call them to find out when and where meetings are!

ONE IN SEVEN AMERICANS USING FOOD STAMPS - COLLEGE EDU TOO - POVERTY IN AMERICA

MSN MONEY - THE FACES - FOOD STAMPS   by Hope Yen  AP PRESS

EXCERPT: In a first, working-age people now make up the majority in U.S. households that rely on food stamps -- a switch from a few years ago, when children and the elderly were the main recipients. ...

Food stamp participation since 1980 has grown the fastest among workers with some college training, a sign that the safety net has stretched further to cover America's former middle class, according to an analysis of government data for The Associated Press by economists at the University of Kentucky. Formally called Supplemental Nutrition Assistance, or SNAP, the program now covers 1 in 7 Americans.

TRADER JOES DONATES TO FOOD BANKS - CAN YOU BUDGET TO BUY THEIR FOOD ON YOUR CALFRESH ALLOWANCE?

We get hundreds of hits on our links to California State Calfresh, also called food stamps, Snap, and EBT.  We know that those of you who go to Food Banks and some shelters, eat Trader Joe's donations.  Trader Joes is a store that has some fresh fruit, wine and cheeses, coffee, a wide variety of prepared frozen foods,  ready made sandwiches and so on, and most items in our opinion are moderate to pricy.  We think that the quality of the products is better and that there is an eye to nutrition and quality by Trader Joes.

SO WE WENT SHOPPING AT TRADER JOES TO SEE WHAT THE STORE HAS THAT WILL ALLOW US TO KEEP TO ABOUT FIVE DOLLARS A DAY WHICH OUR CALFRESH ALLOWANCE BUDGET IS.

HERE ARE THE ITEMS WE FOUND TO BE A GOOD DEAL and keeping within that budget.

1)  FROZEN VEGETABLES that are not organic. About $1.50 a bag. Broccoli and Green Beans.
2)  CANNED TURKEY CHILI  about $2 a can.
3)  CANNED BLACK BEANS, WHITE KIDNEY BEANS, and RED KIDNEY BEANS. Around a dollar a can.
4)  MULTI GRAIN PANCAKE MIX.  $2 a box.  Just tried it.  It's great!
5)  PASTA - About $1.25 a box.
6)  TOMATO SAUCES - JARS - about on par with other store brands except when other stores have their sales.
7)  EGGS - about on par with other stores and says no hormones. About $2 dozen depending on size.
8)  PARMESAN - ROMANO CHEESE in a shaker container - slightly less expensive than Kraft brand sold elsewhere.  About $3.50.
Would like to see larger containers available.
9)  BANANAS - always 19 Cents each - very good price.
10)  CHEESE - have to stay to the more basic varieties to find prices competitive with other stores, like Cheddar.
11) Yogurt - very competitive prices.

RESTAURANTS TAKING EBT CASH BUT NOT EBT FOOD?

WE KNOW THAT IF YOU HAVE EBT FOOD BENEFIT as a senior citizen, disabled person, or homeless person, or if you are living without the appliances to cook, YOU CAN BUY HOT FOOD AT A MANY FAST FOOD CHAINS, but if you're looking for healthier food or some variety, you may want to use that FOOD BENEFIT at a smaller, owner-operated restaurant. We are always searching for these.

IF YOU ARE A RESTAURANT OWNER please understand that most people who get CASH BENEFITS such as General Relief or Welfare REALLY NEED THAT CASH MONEY.  They don't want to dip into it for food.  We do not understand  restaurants who are willing to take EBT cash but not EBT food.

People who are senior citizens, disabled, or who do not live where they can cook their own means can get a FOOD BENEFIT like to get out of the house (or shelter or park). 

NEW YORK CITY MAYOR PROPOSES EBT BAN SODA POP PURCHASES

Childhood obesity and other health concerns may be behind the Mayor's idea that EBT/SNAP users no longer be allowed to charge soda pop and other sugary drinks to the state.

"Exactly what one is able to purchase with food stamps does very a little bit however, depending on what state you live in. For instance, in rural Alaska you can buy bows and arrows for traditional hunting purposes."

"Although sodas and the like are huge contributors to unhealthy diets, there are a million other food products full of corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, trans fats, salt, and a myriad of other questionable additives and ingredients. Chances are that those who are buying soda regularly are also buying not-so-hot food items too. But beyond the narrow scope of the proposal, what's more troubling is that the restriction only applies to those on food stamps, which means it only applies to those who are low-income, and adds stigma to an already stigmatized demographic. It doesn't seem reasonable or fair to effectively label low income individuals as making poor diet choices and breeding obesity."

WHAT DO YOU BUY WITH THE CASH YOU GET FROM SELLING YOUR EBT-SNAP FOOD BENEFITS?

We've noticed that our previous post with the questions DO YOU SELL YOUR FOOD BENEFIT FOR CASH has a lot of hits. Are we telling you to do this? NO. We're just aware that a lot of homeless and simply poor people do sell their stamps for cash. It's trouble for you if you're caught though we were reading over our EBT paperwork and see that there is a penalty for a certain large amount. Stores that do this, usually owner-operated small groceries and convenience stores, are often a well kept secret among the people who sell their stamps, information only shared with those you can trust.

While some people are trading their EBT for cash so they can buy beer, many simply need things they can't stretch their cash benefit or other income to buy like vitamins, over the counter drugs, sanitary supplies, and things for the baby.

HOW TO SET UP YOUR FARMERS MARKET STALL TO ACCEPT EBT/SNAP FREE HELP FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

We would like more fresh and healthy food options. We would like to be able to purchase from FARMERS MARKETS! So if you have a stall at the market (or an independent restaurant) the news is that THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA WILL HELP YOU SET UP SO YOU CAN TAKE THE CARD! Link to ecologycenter here by clicking on the title of this post!

FOOD and the HOMELESS - LOOSING CONTROL OF OUR DIET !

One of the worst things about being homeless is that we loose control of our diet. Food kitchens and FEEDS in the park, pantries and donations, homeless shelters and churches,and so many other programs provide food. But we often feel that we must eat while the food is there, and we over eat.

Some of us have starved. We've felt the pangs of hunger and the deprivation makes us over eat, especially if we get into a shelter with three meals a day. Since when have we had three meals at the same time every day, cooked foods, pies and cakes?

We may have weight on us, but be nutritionally starved. We usually cannot afford vitamins, herbs, or holistic supplements.

WHEN WE HAVE NO COOKING FACILITIES AT ALL, especially when we are living in a van or car rather than a tent, we are really stuck. Then we may have a diet of sandwiches, or cold soup, chili, or pasta out of can. WAY TOO MUCH SALT, which, along with all the stress we suffer, leads to HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE.

We have our EBT if we are lucky, but even with a homeless hot food supplement, it's an expensive way to eat. In our own kitchens we can make the money last a month, but not when we have to eat chips instead of baked potatoes, canned goods that are sometimes 40% salt and 50% fat...

APRIL 2014 : CHECK OUT OUR NEW PAGE on our sidebar ABOUT TAKING CONTROL OF Y OUR DIET.