Back then, the early 1960s, food stamps were not so readily available. If they had been, it would have helped us enormously.
When I needed serious dental care, it was done through a local Catholic charity, and even though I had to wait hours in line, that dental care was hugely appreciated.
I have long thought food stamps, or SNAP as it is these days, should actually be given to all Americans. We should all receive at least the minimum benefit. It could be in the form of a debit card, with a monetary value loaded each month, and any remaindered should disappear at the end of the month. For those of us who don't need that benefit, we could readily find ways to pass it on to those more needy. Such as finding a local food bank or homeless shelter that needs food. Use your benefit to buy food for the food bank or homeless shelter and you'll be good.
I do volunteer work at a local homeless shelter. I help prepare meals for our clients. Like all of us, I cheerfully spend money on food that I can fix for them. And it's honestly embarrassing how grateful and appreciative they are.
Back to the personal story. When I was a sophomore in high school, there was an announcement about a family needing a Saturday babysitter for two girls, and to sign up in the office. By the time I got there several others had already signed up, so I figured I was out of luck. But the school was aware of my family's financial need, and had scholarshipped our book bill. (In Arizona, we had to purchase our textbooks, completely unlike New York State where we had lived just before.) I got a call into the office and was told the job was mine. Oh, yes! It paid a magnificent $3.00 per week. Which today would be about $27.00, not a bad paycheck.
My mom drove me to the house. I spent the day there, and that mom drove me home. Most days I asked to stop at the grocery store on the way home to buy food for the family. I recall the mom being quite astonished, that she really couldn't imagine I'd not keep the money for myself. Honestly, we were five kids with a mom who was a nurse who worked every extra shift she could get in a time when nurses really made very little money. We needed to eat. If I could buy us groceries, hooray for that.
I have been hungry more than once in my life. A few years after the events described above, I was working full time but at wages low enough that a free meal very positively impacted my life. And while in recent years that is not the case, I have never forgotten earlier poverty or hunger. Which is why I honestly think every single person in this country should get SNAP. Me, I'd give it away. Most likely to the homeless shelter.
I do have a friend who also works at the shelter who keeps $5.00 gift cards for McDonald's which she hands out to people begging for food in the street. I need to do that.
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