SNAP cards give low-income customers access to farmers markets, By Lindsey Nair, August 17, 2011, Roanoke Times: “Elbert “Tee” Reynolds has become the official greeter at the West End Community Market in Roanoke, where every Tuesday afternoon he swipes customers’ benefit cards and hands them wooden tokens. The cards represent Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for low-income families, while the tokens represent welcome cash for hardworking local farmers. Reynolds, a SNAP recipient who volunteers at the market, said some families who live in the surrounding neighborhoods do not have easy access to fresh, healthy food. Until recently, residents did not shop at the farmers market because they didn’t have the money…”
Tag: Virginia
Car Title Lending – Virginia
First-ever data shows 25,000 car title loans worth $21M issued in last 3 months of 2010 in Va, By Dena Potter (AP), Washington Post: “Virginia car title lenders doled out nearly 25,000 loans worth more than $21 million in the last three months of 2010, according to data collected for the first time since the state started regulating the lenders. Car title lenders were unregulated in Virginia until October, when a new law took effect that limited how much the companies can charge, how much they can lend and for how long. Despite the protections, more than 3,500 borrowers missed payments for at least 60 days during those three months, and nearly 200 had their vehicles repossessed. Meanwhile, the new State Corporation Commission data shows that laws enacted in 2008 to curb the repeated use of their close cousin, payday loans, have dramatically reduced their use. Both are short-term loans that charge borrowers triple-digit interest rates. Payday loans hold a paycheck as collateral for a loan, whereas a car title loan uses a vehicle…”
Increased Need for Assistance – Virginia
In southwest Va., as more need help, aid organization has less to give, By Eli Saslow, April 16, 2011, Washington Post: “The destitute people who line up outside her office are asking for more help than ever. The organization where she works has less than ever to give. It falls on Denise Hancock to navigate the chasm in between, so she rubs her forehead, opens her office door and calls out into the waiting room. ‘Come on in,’ she says. The first client this morning at the Pulaski Community Action office is a young woman with tangled hair and smudged eyeliner, a single mother of two who lost her job at Shoney’s restaurant. ‘You’re my last resort,’ she says, handing over a piece of paper stamped, ‘Urgent: Termination Notice.’ It is an electric bill for $510.15 with full payment due immediately. ‘Can you help me?’ she asks. Hancock purses her lips, already knowing what will come next. She punches numbers into a calculator and then begins the same conversation she will have 14 more times on this day alone. ‘I’m really sorry,’ she says. ‘All we can afford to give right now is $35…'”