Bad enough they've cut back not only the amount, partial of regular weekly income, even deeper of the unemployment compensation but also the number of weeks an individual can collect, while the unemployment numbers in North Carolina are not falling and from the previous midterms the legislature to the recent election and governor all ran on jobs and economic policies and have done squat, just like many states and especially the federal branches.
Bad enough they're stripping the citizens rights in ways from voting to health care, adding to the burdens of many.
Bad enough that the legislature will be coming back to override the, surprising, governors veto for drug tests for welfare recipients. {frankly this legislature should be on required random drug testing!}
Now they're actually starving residents, and offering no help,from the elderly on down to those unemployed or underemployed, and families of as well, along with the disabled, the working poor {wonder if the many Walmarts, others, are helping their employee's} and more.
Apparently nobody checked out a new system for food stamp benefits before putting it into operation. A local report, just aired, said the problems go back to July and are still causing huge problems for individuals and families.
Problems delay NC food assistance program
The local report with video, mentioned above, hasn't been posted yet. This is one of a few found.
Aug 26, 2013 - A state program intended to improve the way people get social services is experiencing a backlog that is leaving some people all over the state without food.
Brenda Jackson, director of Cumberland County's Department of Social Services, estimated there were 350 people waiting on overdue food stamps two weeks ago. Late last week, the department worked that backlog down to 130.
{video report won't embed, it's a script code, you can catch at link}
Eleanor Raines of Fayetteville is one of the people still waiting for food stamps. She expected the benefit on Aug.11.
"If I didn't need the system, I wouldn't use the system. But I need the system," Raines said. read more>>>
There's a few reports from earlier this month, as I said above, this apparently is now into the second month for many as well as any who've applied since this started. This is one of the earlier reports:
NC's online food assistance program produces long waits, frustration
August 5, 2013 - The state’s new electronic benefits payment system, aimed at greater efficiency, instead has Wake County food aid recipients waiting as long as eight or nine weeks for funds to arrive to put food on their tables.
Longtime Southeast Raleigh activist Octavia Rainey told Wake County commissioners Monday that the problems have caused dozens of people to show up at her house to ask for help in getting food from churches, food banks and other sources. read more>>>
In the local report they visited a couple of local food banks and reported they all had long lines of people seeking help. Talking to one elderly resident she said she would have starved without the help sought last month right into this month. When you get food bank help you have to wait a certain time frame before you can ask for help again.
Here's a the local report, not yet with video but pretty much what was reported, oh and my bad I said into July, it goes back into June apparently:
Hungry families left waiting on food stamps
Aug 27, 2013 - It's not unusual to find long lines outside of the Lincoln County Christian Ministry food pantry in Lincolnton.
Months after the State's Department of Social Services system crashed, families are still not getting food assistance from the state.
The NC FAST System for Food and Nutrition Services became bogged down again in July after the state added Medicaid information to the system.
Families tell WBTV they are now experiencing longer delays in food stamp distribution. "If it hadn't been for the Christian Ministry, we wouldn't be eating, period. We wouldn't have anything to eat," Janie Blalack told WBTV. "We have not gone hungry because of this place. It has been a blessing to my family," Blalack said.
Blalack said she is qualified to receive $162 in food stamps each month. She has not received any assistance from the state since June. read more>>>
This is one of the lead stories airing now on a local show after the national news that airs every night, the other lead is about the teen girl now missing for two years but just reported as a couple f weeks ago as her adoptive parents moved out of their house and are now in Fayetteville NC, so it might get expanded some in the reporting.