- Unlikely allies in food stamp debate, By Anemona Hartocollis, October 16, 2010, New York Times: “Seventeen years ago, Ann Landers got a letter from “Upset in Texas,’ a checker at a grocery store, complaining about customers on food stamps. One woman bought a ‘fancy birthday cake’ for $17. Another bought a ‘luxury’ bag of shrimp for $32.12, and so forth. ‘Can’t something be done about the freeloaders who are costing us taxpayers millions?’ Upset complained. Ellen Vollinger, legal director for the nonprofit Food Research and Action Center, thought of that letter with a pang a few days ago, when Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg asked the federal government for permission to bar New York City’s food stamp users from buying sodas and other sugary drinks with their benefits. Mr. Bloomberg cast his proposal as a kind of social and scientific experiment in fighting the national epidemic of obesity and diabetes. He promised that over the two-year life of the project, New York would collect data on whether food stamp users spent their taxpayer-funded benefits on more healthful choices, like fruits and vegetables. Ms. Vollinger’s group, which is dedicated to fighting hunger, promptly came out against the idea, suggesting that, among other things, it would ‘perpetuate the myth’ encompassed in that letter to Ann Landers, that people who need government assistance make bad choices at the supermarket…”
- Oklahomans receiving food stamps went up in September, marking 30 straight monthly net increases, By Bryan Painter, October 17, 2010, The Oklahoman: “Howard Hendrick, director of the state Department of Human Services, was visiting a DHS office in McAlester and randomly walked into an interview room. Each day, Hendrick reviews the colossal numbers of those in need. That day in southeastern Oklahoma he wanted to hear the story of the young woman in the room seeking assistance. She wakes at 5 each weekday morning, gets her two children ready, takes them to child care by 6:30 a.m. and arrives at work by 7 a.m. where she’s a manager at a developmental disabilities group home. She’s divorced and her ex-husband works in a little country general store. Even though he’s paying child support and she’s working, they still don’t have enough money to take care of their family. ‘She’s driving a Ford Mustang with a couple hundred thousand miles on it,’ Hendrick said. ‘And she’s just living from paycheck to paycheck, trying to make things work. This is the plight of a lot of people today.’ In March 2008, the number of Oklahomans on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps, was at 410,440, having dropped 7,184 from the previous month. Unemployment was 3.2 percent and holding steady…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty