In Florida, a food-stamp recruiter deals with wrenching choices, By Eli Saslow, April 23, 2013, Washington Post: “A good recruiter needs to be liked, so Dillie Nerios filled gift bags with dog toys for the dog people and cat food for the cat people. She packed crates of cookies, croissants, vegetables and fresh fruit. She curled her hair and painted her nails fluorescent pink. ‘A happy, it’s-all-good look,’ she said, checking her reflection in the rearview mirror. Then she drove along the Florida coast to sign people up for food stamps. Her destination on a recent morning was a 55-and-over community in central Florida, where single-wide trailers surround a parched golf course. On the drive, Nerios, 56, reviewed techniques she had learned for connecting with some of Florida’s most desperate senior citizens during two years on the job…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty