Food Stamps

I have no qualms at all using food stamps. And since the law allows any food items (other than prepared food i.e. restaurant), it can be used for any food items.

Why are people embarrassed? We have made excuses for ourselves. We have degraded ourselves by freely accepting these types of assistances that are intended to provide for the helpless. We have failed to look past the free lunch and see what it says about us as a society. Chaval. V’Hakesef Ya’aneh es Hakol.

At least a little busha at the checkout counter can’t hurt. The middah of busha is vital to Klal Yisroel.

You should have the same busha to use a food stamp card that you have using a credit card. No more, no less.

Should an oni be made to have busha if he pays for his milk and bread with tzedakah provided him? That’s not the Jewish way. There is a reason tzedakah is specifically given btznius.

I think it depends whether or not the person really qualifies for that assistance.

why do you say so, a person should strive not to accept handouts and it’s good to have busha while he is still in that matzav

Food shtemps, food shtemps far alle Yidden

Food shtemps in velfare, s’iz shtark tzi frid’n

Food shtemps in yeder Yiddishe geshtelt

Fin Fetter Shmeel nem’n mir inzerer gelt!

(Niggunei Creedmoor)

When this thread gets closed (like it happend to the WIC thread) we can start one about section 8….

Hey , this topic answers the other topic of Derech Halimud. How come they can’t get past Daf Zein here, the whole Zman? Because everyday they have another appt. -First it’s Food Stamps, Next it’s Jersey Care, then it’s WIC and of course don’t forget Parshas Shmini, which is a Chiyuv D’oorysa to get (A whole Parsha dedicated to HUD)!

I go without a lot of things in my home, cupboard and kitchen. And yet we will not take welfare, food stamps or tomche shabbos. Every cent coming in our house is kosher, And BELIEVE Me you can count the money coming in in CENTS. My husband is not a professional. Oh he’s professional alright if you count being a professional a shlepping-blue-collar-worker making a bit above minimum wage.

And yeah, i Have Tynnis against my neighbors who are receiving tomche shabbos (although its suppose to be delivered discreetly) and yet they go to the country, summer trips and get furniture deliveries.

I wonder about the other neighbor whose husband is in kollel and its obvious they are not rolling in $ yet they bought a house!

It is a chillul Hashem like bpt wrote when we flash 1.5 carats and yet are needy.

Just because someone is on foodstamps doesnt mean they werent rich once upon a time. It could be the lady with the 1.5 carat diamond ring got it a long time ago when she had lots of money, (or it could have been an engagement ring) and now for some reason they are out of money either due job loss, or big business loss.

Let me tell you, I just moved from Florida to Queens thinking that I and my husband would have jobs right when we got here, but unfortunately those job opportunities fell through. So now we both have no income so we got onto foodstamps to help us buy food. However, we still have 2 laptops not because we are cheating the government in order to get foodstamps, but because we bought the laptops when we had money. Im sure due to the economy there are many people out there who were once rich, but lost a lot of their money. That doesnt mean that they had to get rid of all their fancy things that they bought when they were rich.

The Food Stamp program does not care how much assets you own in determining eligibility. You can own a Lexus and have very little income, and qualify for food stamps.

If you have an issue with that, take it up with your legislature or Congressman. Not the fully legally eligible participants who qualify and receive benefits.

Always runs: I think we need to STOP looking in our neighbors homes to see what they do and do not have. You never really know what’s going on by your neighbors home inside( unless you live there).Live and let live!

And yeah, i Have Tynnis against my neighbors who are receiving tomche shabbos (although its suppose to be delivered discreetly) and yet they go to the country, summer trips and get furniture deliveries.

Tomche Shabbos is not food stamps. If you have reason to believe that the family in question should not be receiving Tzedaka, mention something to whomever is in charge and they will investigate.

Food stamps, as Joe points out, follow legalities. One can “bend” the laws to get benefits, just like one can do so to pay less in taxes.

MRA / Stamper –

You have a point, and technicaly you are right. But that is no reason to flaunt your possessions.

What galls us non-stampers is the attitude of entitlement we so often see and hear from the folks on the take.

In the province I live in there is a Home Care program – it is NOT income based, but based on health needs. Among the services they provide are nursing care, personal aids for assistance with bathing and dressing, cooking services and home cleaning. I have had various services during the years. In the past 5 years I broke both of my hips and had 2 more surgeries for hip replacements. I also have severe back problems and cannot bend over far enough to do some household chores such as changing my sheets and vacuuming. I have had cleaning services for several years – which is one hour every 2 weeks. You are assessed yearly by a “case coordinator”. At one time these coordinators were all RN’s and now they have mainly social workers doing the job. How a social worker can assess medical needs is beyond me. I recently was assigned a new coordinator and from the minute she walked in, I just felt in my bones that she was a “cholerya”. She looked around and said:”you live in a nice place and have such beautiful furniture and ornaments. I find it very difficult to believe that you cannot afford to pay for your own household cleaning.” Like an idiot, I began telling her that I inherited a lot of things, that I used to have a house and a husband and a good job, but now I am on a fixed income. It was none of her business (I later found out) and when I said that paying for help would be a hardship, that should have been enough. After she left, I got angrier and angrier. I made it my business to find out who her supervisor was and I wrote a letter to her (with a cc to the cholerya) documenting the entire visit. I received a phone call in less than a week and things were ironed out. So, you can’t judge people by what they have because nobody knows what financial position they are presently in. Yes, there are many abuses of the system but I think that even if for every 3 abuses, there is a genuine person in need, that is how it must be. You cannot judge a book by its cover.

If a Yid gets food stamps legally, but something appears unseemly to an objective outside observer, it is Chillul HaShem and Eiva(causing animosity).

IN that vein, I hope you don’t take any tax deductions?

You do?

Tax avoidance is not evasion. Neither is an irrevocable trust, or gifts to minor children, as long as it is done legally.

There was a story all over the news a number of months ago, where a woman won a state multi million dollar lottery. When her food stamps case came up for renewal she drove to the FS office in her new Mercedes to renew. The workers saw that and tipped off the press. Her renewal was approved, since she had little income, despite her big bank account which legally is not considered for eligibility. Some of the state legislatures said they wanted to change the law. But it turned out that federal mandates from Congress preclude states from considering any assets, and can only look at income. (They used to consider assets also until about 5 years ago, when the law changed.)

ca: There is nothing to differ about. It is a factual legal matter that assets are not considered in determining eligibility. This isn’t a matter of opinion.

“It is a factual legal matter that assets are not considered in determining eligibility. This isn’t a matter of opinion. “

While I’m not an expert in determining eligibility, and it may not be relevant to the case of food stamps, I vaugely remember hearing something about the fact that anyone who recieves public assitance, its considered a “loan” not a gift. And should this person come into any future money (inheritance, lottery, ect) the Feds are notified (as in the IRS at a casino for huge payouts), and in short order, the “winnings” are used to repay the loans the formerly poor person had been advanced.

That’s why, when the Grandfather who had 8 houses and loads of bank accounts under his name (so the true owners could collect govt goodie$) passes on (or is in imminent danger of doing so) there is a mass hysteria to shuffle assets to trust funds, ect.

Sometimes it works, sometimes not. But a huge lottery? That, I doubt would pass under the radar.

The government WANTS anyone and everyone who meets the technical eligibility qualifications to receive FS, to actually apply and receive them. The government is literally advertising all over the place begging people to apply for them. The Federal government even gives the States incentives to get as many people as possible sign up.

If you technically qualify, get them. And use them. Don’t think twice about it. If they change the law to reduce eligibility, you’ll deal with it then. Until then, bon appetit.