This statement is the key for me as a SNAP recipient, "What it has let me do is purchase better quality foods." Having dietary restrictions can make food shopping and cooking a challenge. It can be disheartening at times, but I try and make a game of it especially living where I do (middle of butt fuck nowhere), I do not have the choices those in suburbia do. Without SNAP it would be Ramen, hotdogs, and Encore entrees. Food, but not healthy.
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I have previously written how three days before my 60th birthday I came to a decision that I once considered unthinkable. On that day, I gathered up my financial information, took my book, entered the Social Services office in Waterbury, Connecticut, and asked if there was someone I could see to obtain some assistance. I pretty much already knew for what I was eligible, and had known for the past year, but since I was self employed I needed help to complete the forms that are designed for those on an hourly pay. I needed to talk to someone.
The receptionist behind the glass partition took my name and social security number and directed me to the waiting room informing me someone would call me. I had gotten there at around 11:30 a.m. and took the last of the available seats, opened my book and steeled myself for a long wait.
There were over 50 people in the waiting room. Mothers with children some with infants, middle age couples, young men and woman by themselves, some in work clothing -- guard uniforms, medical scrubs, fast food outfits, business suit or tie. This was not what I had expected.
The Social Services department is directly on a bus route and not located in the best part of town. I am ashamed to say that I expected to find the unemployable or the lazy or the addicted or handicapped. I expected something different, something else. I expected to be surrounded by... by "them."
What I Realized When I Finally Decided to Sign Up for Food Stamps | Alternet
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