My fiance and I just returned from an appointment at the RI SNAP office (foodstamps). I am unemployed, and have been collecting since last November. What I get is just barely not even keeping our heads above water, and that's with setting myself up to be reamed next year by the IRS since I haven't been having the taxes taken out. Half of what we get goes to rent. Half of what's left goes to making a payment on an ten year old car & keeping it insured so that one or the other of us could get to an interview if we could find one for a job that wouldn't cost us money to take. Don't even ask about utilites...
We were denied in about 10 seconds due to a rule that is 1) apparently Iron-Clad 2) one of the most non-sensical things I may have ever heard in my life.
This isn't a plea for help, it's a rant, and though I've been here, lurking and commenting since Nov '07 it's my first ever diary, so go easy on me OK?
According to the rules that SNAP operates under in this state if you are a student you DO NOT QUALIFY for food assistance unless you work 20 hours or more per week, period.
It doesn't matter if you're pregnant (as she is).
It doesn't matter if you go to school on-line (as she does) and there is no physical facility to have "work/study" employment in.
It doesn't matter that the unemployment rate in the state is 3rd highest in the nation and no-one will hire you anyway since you're pregnant.
I don't qualify for anything because of the amount that I receive from unemployment, even though it doesn't meet my basic bills.
Here's where the rant begins....
How fucking stupid is it that a state agency requires you to choose between GETTING AN EDUCATION so that you can get more gainful employment and EATING?! What are our priorities when being a student disqualifies you for aid? Call me a pinko/socialist/commie whatever you will but society has a vested interest in people getting an education and becoming qualified for better jobs. Why in the world should a student, any student have to worry about food security? For that matter why should a full-time student need to have a job to support themselves? Why shouldn't they be "working" on their education?
I just dropped off an application to go back to school myself yesterday. I haven't always made the best choices in my life. I was once, in the mid-90's a nursing student (I actually only took one semester of nursing courses due to limited availability of certain prerequisites but had most or all of my gen eds done) when I left school due to inability to pay for the textbooks I needed that semester. I took a 12~13 year detour into the motorcycle industry, because I love bikes and I've always been mechanically inclined. I went to tech school and graduated with a 96% avg. I thought that would be my direction, y'know that old saw "if you love what you do you'll never work a day in your life"?. But that industry was particularly hard-hit by the economic downturn last year, my old boss told me when he laid me off that it had been the worst season he'd seen in over 30 years in the business.
I want to change direction and go back to finish my nursing degree but it just seems that the cards are stacked against me/us. I'm willing to work, but most shops are still in "wait and see" mode. They've pared down to the bone and are running skeleton crews (at least in the northeast, and relocating simply isn't an option, for a variety of reasons). I need to become qualified for a better paying job, one that is and will be in demand. I have to. But I'm scared that I won't be able to. Not for lack of effort. Not for inability to handle the work or lack of mental capacity. Because I can't meet my basic economic realities while earning a qualification for a job that is in demand. It shouldn't be this way.
UPDATE: REC LIST REALLY?!!?...Oh, wait.....Nope, I guess not, LOL............ Seriously though, thanks everyone for participating in the discussion, I really didn't expect to have much attention as a first time diarist in the middle of the day. I appreciate the suggestions and support, I love this place