In order to receive food stamps in the State of Ohio you must meet certain criteria. Your income must be within 130% of the federal poverty level. You must have less than a total of $2000.00 in savings and checking accounts combined and you must have dependents. You can be single with no dependents if you are over the age of 60, and you can apply and temporarily receive food stamps for 3 months if you are single and able bodied but lost your job. Food stamps are not supposed to be the only source of food for a family, but rather a supplement. In theory it sounds like a great program and most people would agree that taxes should fund it so people don’t go hungry.
I’m sure that many people who need food stamps use them wisely and make sure that their children get nourishing meals. My editorial is about what I consider fraud against the food stamp program.
My husband is on permanent, total disability which cut his working income almost in half last year. I retired in 2000 and I receive a pension equal to one third my working income. I’m not old enough for social security so to supplement it, I work part-time. We were not expecting my husband to become totally disabled and when his income was reduced it put a financial strain on us. We cut back on cable channels, take no vacations, canceled our cell phones (I now have only a pay-as-you-go) and eat dinner out less than once a month. We also needed to cut our grocery bill and to do that we purchase whatever meat, poultry, fish and fruit is on sale for the week. We grow a garden in the summer for fresh vegetables, which I also can for the winter months. We cut back on non-essentials and somehow manage to live within our budget. We have never asked for and don’t expect any government assistance.
Yesterday we went grocery shopping and the woman in front of us unloaded her cart. She had 4 boxes of cereal, 2 loaves of white bread, bologna, ground meat, 6 cans of Spaghetti-O’s, 4 cans of corn, milk, 2 half gallons of ice cream, a large bakery cake, 2 packages of cookies, a 12 pack of beer, 2 cartons of cigarettes and a bag of fresh cherries. Nothing was on sale except the cherries. When everything was totaled, she whipped out her Ohio food stamp debit card and paid for the food. She didn’t have enough on there so she told the cashier to take out the cherries and corn. She then pulled $100.00 out of her wallet to pay for the cigarettes and beer. She is low income and qualifies for food stamps. How did she then have $100.00 for cigarettes and beer? I realize that she could have been purchasing the cigarettes and beer for someone else, but I think that was unlikely because she had an open pack of cigarettes in her purse of the same brand.
Yesterday’s event prompted me to write this article, but this was not the first time I’ve seen someone at the supermarket using food stamps for food and still having cash for alcohol, cigarettes and non-essential items. I would never want to see her kids or any children going hungry because there was no food stamp program, but I think she could have spent some of that $100.00 paying for the items she had the cashier remove. Less then a week ago I witnessed a situation very similar at a different store, the food was a little healthier but the food stamp recipient had enough money for 2 boxes of Franzia wine, the new Harry Potter book and a brand new video game. I find it hard to understand how some of these people qualify for food stamps when they have disposable income for cigarettes, alcohol and all manner of unnecessary things.
I don’t know what the answer is. I do know the Ohio food stamp program doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to. People truly in need are going hungry and some people receiving benefits are abusing the system. Instead of food stamps maybe people should get a weekly food basket. Maybe the screening process should include proving monthly with receipts, that they’ve spent their money on shelter, utilities and food before food stamps are given. In less then a week I witnessed two instances, that to me amounted to fraud. If you don’t have enough money for food, you shouldn’t have enough money for vices or $50.00 books or toys. If you know or suspect someone of committing food stamp fraud you can report them to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Fraud includes: a recipient having income that they’re not reporting or letting someone else use their debit card in return for the cash.
The bottom line is that there are people living in Ohio going hungry because they don’t qualify for assistance. A lot of these families are too proud to apply for food stamps, don’t know they’re eligible or make over the guideline limits but have issues like medical bills (not vices) that take away from their income.
Ohio government needs to scrutinize the food stamp program. Changes need to be made.
