Some time ago I recommended a program called Rapid Cash Marketing. Well, that contest ended and I was fortunate to be a winner. I just met another woman who was one of the winners and we agreed to swap blog posts. She posted my offering on her site http://www.gurugrandma.com in case you’d like to look it over. If you go there, be sure to leave a comment for Nancy. Thank you.
Here is the post that Nancy so graciously prepared for you. I think you will be very pleased. I certainly was. She plucked at my heartstrings.
“ Take a Number; We’ll Be With You In a SNAP…”
“We would worry less about what others think of us if we realized how seldom they did.” Ethel Barrett
January 26, 2009, “the White House released a report with details about President Obama’s economic stimulus recovery plan. The plan would increase food stamp benefits for 30 million (you are NOT alone) Americans and increase Social Security benefits $450 for 7.5 million disabled and elderly people.” (The NY Times)
I am happy to be a guest writer for the food stamps club blog. Connie Baum has created a delightful idea here born out of a desire to help persons who have tough choices to make everyday. Food choices. You have to decide how you are going to feed your family on a meager $21/week. That’s just an average. Some have more, some less. At any rate it is no less the challenge.
I started taking part in this challenge in January 1999, when I became disabled. I worked as a teacher for 25 years. So yes, unemployment can happen to anyone. I have felt first hand the sting of discrimination for “living off the government.” But, I decided a long time ago that I am going to hold my head up high and be proud of the things I have accomplished in my life. I’m proud of all the children I taught to read. I’m proud of every single one of the lives I’ve touched.
There is an unwritten statement in our society that seeks to make you feel like less of a person because you had to ask for help in a time of need. To those people that put you down for “not working”, I have this to tell them. I have never worked so hard in my entire life. Do they know how stressful it is to stretch the food for soooo long? Do they know how much time and energy it takes just thinking about how to survive?
Let them experience this. When I went to social services to apply for assistance, I entered a crowded room. I was asked to take a number. Now that made me laugh! We all have been just reduced to numbers, right? The Bible talks about the mark of the beast. I felt like I had a big, red shiny mark sticking to my forehead that day.
So I sat down holding my paper with my head bowed in the same fateful acceptance I saw in the faces of those around me. I had my:
Utility bill
Paycheck stub from my teaching job (my last “job”)
A letter from my mortgage company stating the amount of my monthly payment
Do people know what you have to go through just to get accepted to SNAP?
(Supplemental Food and Assistance Program) Frankly, it would be easier to hold out a cup on the street. But, you do what you have to do.
As I left, I reminded myself that SNAP is an entitlement program. If you qualify, then you are entitled to benefits. It’s a nutrition program to allow people, young families, disabled persons and senior citizens to get one of the basic necessities of life; FOOD. In today’s economy, banks, mortgage companies, auto industries, our whole government has had to use supplemental help just to keep going.
Know this–anyone who doesn’t get the help they need just because they might feel embarrassed, just has never been hungry enough!
–Nancy aka GuruGrandma.com
Well said, Nancy. We wish you all the best in your new venture with Rapid Cash Marketing ! We are happy you have found the Food Stamps Cooking Club and we hope we can help you greatly.
Connie Baum
