Food Stamps

Yesterday, another AmeriCorps member and I went to the Department of Social and Health Services to get our Food Assistance. I applied online on Monday, providing information such as my income, rent amount, average energy bill, and so on.
On Thursday I got a letter saying that my application had been received and reviewed, and I was to come in for an interview with documentation that what I had put on my application was true. I brought in a copy of my lease, my photo ID, Social Security Card, car registration, electric bill, and a bank statement.
We arrived at DSHS at 7:45am and checked in with the automated system.
At 9:00 I was called for my interview.
The interviewer briefly went over my application. I showed her the letter from my AmeriCorps supervisor stating that I am and AmeriCorps state member covered under the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993, and that my monthly living stipend is excluded as income for all DSHS assistance programs. Because my income, as far as DSHS is concerned, is $0 a month, I qualify to receive the maximum amount of food assistance - $200 a month.
Then, after I got to sit an wait for a while longer, I finally got my Electronic Benefits Card.
By 9:30, the other member I was with had not been called for her interview yet. She and I checked in at the same time, and just when she was about to ask what was going on, she got called back. At 10am. Two hours after we checked in... wow.
Funding for DSHS has been cut recently, even while the amount of food assistance offered to people has gone up (three years ago, the maximum benefits were $150 a month). DSHS has had to cut back on their hours and staffing, even though the number of people they are serving has increased. Since June of 2008, the number of Americans receiving food stamps has increased by 22%. (Source)
Recently, National Public Radio did a short piece on this trend. They interviewed Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA), who, in 2007, took part in the Congressional Food Stamp Challenge. He lived on a food stamp budget for one month. You can read or listen to the interview here.

I have a challenge to all of our Government Representatives - live off a food stamp budget not for one month, but for a full year. 


Even with the increase in benefits, I will be able to spend a little more than $6 a day on food. That's not much. I want to see the people in control of the governments spending do the same thing, and then, with a straight face, tell the people of America that we are spending too much money on welfare programs such as food stamps.

Do you think you could live off of $6 a day for food?