This morning news brought a report of an executive order that will reduce the number of people on food stamps by approximately 3 million. These people are an easy target for “reducing federal spending.” Before I became disabled, I worked at our local soup kitchen doing everything from sweeping the floors to serving as president. My wife continues to volunteer at our local food shelf. I know from my work at the soup kitchen people have a wrong impression about who comes to them. Before they got a chance to see what goes on at the soup kitchen, they thought a good percentage of those using the soup kitchen were alcoholics, drug addicts, and lazy people. New volunteers were always surprised to find out the majority of people who came to the soup kitchen were families. In most cases, one or both of the parents were working but not making enough to make ends meet. The last time the federal minimum wage was increased was in 2007 and it was raised to $7.25 per hour. That works out to $290 per 40 hour week. A family of four simply won’t have enough money to cover all of their expenses. Most people who came to the soup kitchen were working but needed to stretch what little money they made by eating an occasional meal with us. Another group of people were those who became bankrupt because of medical expenses. I remember an older couple who had good health insurance, but it had a lifetime cap what it would pay and they had reached that cap and had been forced to declare bankruptcy after selling their home and virtually everything they owned. The husband required constant care making it impossible for the wife to work.
Once more people in need of help are being hurt by not so much uncaring people but by unknowing faceless people making “easy” political decisions.
