Kelly: There's a lot of it. I was an observer of this very sad but true fact. Today Holly and I ventured to Richmond to ask for help. Government help. In one week we will be the owners of SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits. AKA Food stamps. This was a decision we did not make lightly that took months of planning and careful deciding. I am not ashamed of it though...asking for help.
Holly made a comment on her facebook earlier this morning about waiting at the food stamps office. I'll go into that later. Anyway, we walked into the office and the waiting area was full. It was 8:20 in the morning and the office opened at 8:00. And the waiting area was already full. Was I surprised? No, not really. The Berea/Richmond area is notoriously low-income in some areas. What I was surprised about was that the waiting area was full after the office had been open for 20 minutes. Anyway, the process itself was rather painless, but this brings me to another point. I mentioned that Holly made a comment on her facebook. There were some comments on there that really upset me to be quite honest. The comments were attacking the church I had been attending for almost four years while as a student. Holly deleted the comment and the post, but I was just upset by this. How could a former member put blame on my church family that these needs of ours were not taken care of? First off, the blame should go to us; Holly nor myself never mentioned any of our needs. And even if we did, I would not have a doubt in my mind that they would be taken care of and then some.
I guess I was just a bit shocked at this person's opinion of my church's lack of support. For me, my church has never been anything BUT supportive. Enough about that...my point is simple; there are needs. The people in the waiting area, as my roommate said, did not look like they were cheating the system. They looked desperate. A family was willing to wait for an hour and a half. Hard times, my friends. Extend a helping hand; don't slap it away.
Holly: My interview with the case worker took a total of 10 minutes and she got a phone call from the front desk saying that her 10:30 appointment had showed up. It was 9 o clock. She had nowhere else to go, so she said she was going to wait. Tomorrow I have to take a paper from the office to work; essentially it's proof that I'm employed. Which led me to wonder, out of how many people I saw in the PACKED office this morning, how many were employed? I'm willing to bet not a lot. Because of my job I'm not even sure if I'll receive benefits (which is totally fine, by the way). Isn't that messed up? No. No...I guess it isn't.
As I just mentioned I won't be disappointed if I discover I'm ineligible, because, to me, it means that someone else needed the benefits more than me. Contrary to what I can imagine to be an overwhelming majority of the people in the PACKED office, I know where my next meal is coming from. I don't have to worry about supporting children. I have a reliable source of transportation, a comfortable living situation, and a job that fits me to a T. My roommate told me earlier this morning as we were leaving that she was a little wary about asking for government assistance, because there's always those out there that try to "cheat" the system. Which is awful, by the way. But as we left the office she said the people in there didn't look like they were trying to cheat anything: they looked desperate, like they didn't want to be there either, but they had no other choice.
It's just SAD!!! Really, really, really sad. It breaks my heart to see so much need in our community, but I'm grateful for the organizations and churches that do their best to try and minister to those needs. I'm grateful that the process was painless, because it needs to be. Yes, the comment about my church did upset me, but I'm not going to get into that because what I wanted to say was already said. I'm definitely going to bed counting my blessings tonight, and I hope all of you do the same.
Just be aware and be a good steward. Be grateful and thankful for what you have, even if it's "not a lot". There's always someone out there who has it worse off than you do.
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