Food Stamp Crunch Intensifies

Chicago Residents Struggling To Make Ends Meet Rush To Get Groceries On The First

(CBS)  Midnight might not seem like an ideal time to open grocery store doors.

But on the first of the month, it is, CBS News correspondent Seth Doane reports.

In the afternoon, the aisles were almost empty at One-Stop Foods on Chicago’s South Side, because most of the patrons there rely on food stamps - and their monthly allotments had run dry.

“They're struggling to get through the month,” Dennis Kladis, the store’s owner, said. “So the minute they get their money back, they come shopping!”

The benefit money is electrically deposited on a debit card. For many there, it comes just after midnight on the first of each month.

For Maranatha Mays, the moment can’t come soon enough.

How long has it been since she last were able to come to the store and buy food?

“Like two weeks ago,” Mays said.

She lost her job six months ago, and her family of six gets $369 a month in food stamps.

"It really like, cut me out,” she said. “I’m really not eating. Because my kids have to eat before me.”

Getting through the month is a stretch.

“Do you notice the cost of food going up?” Doane asked grocery shopper Myeisha Collins.

“Yeah, because you could buy a bulk of cheese for like $10. Now it’s almost $13. Milk use to be like $2; now it’s almost $5,” she said.

The midnight madness is a come-as-you-are event.

Owner Dennis Kladis makes sure there are lots of sale items. And he says he does more volume in the first few hours of the month - than in entire days at the end.

“They're trying to make the same ends meet on the same money - while prices go up … so, it's an indictment on what's been going on,” Kladis said.

Food stamps are only designed to supplement food budgets. And now the working poor are relying on them more and more. And they need to spend their cash elsewhere.

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Read more about the food-stamp struggle over at Couric & Co. blog.

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“Do you worry that a lot of the stuff you’re buying isn’t the healthiest?” Doane asked Terrelyn Watkins.

“Yea, but I know it’s cheap,” she said. “I mean, if you don't pay Con Ed - you're gonna get your lights cut out. If you don't pay people gas - your gas is gonna get cut off.”

Watkins makes about $25,000 a year as a dental technician. But supporting two kids, one job doesn’t do it.

“It's just crazy out there. People are doing what they have to do to make a living," she said.

Michael Jordan and his partner, Renee Bishop, both work in health care. But their salaries aren’t feeding their kids - and food stamps don’t last.

“Whoever making … these prices go up? They need to make 'em go back down,” Jordan said.

They’re not shy about asking for help.

“The costs are high! I'm about to ask you for a little ... change!” Jordan said.

But change isn’t coming anytime soon. The government won’t consider raising food stamp allotments until October.

[keithle1]

Tip for poor women everywhere: DO NOT HAVE KIDS!

You can''t afford to take care of yourself so why bring another hungry mouth into the world? Kids want & need things 24-7. Food. Clothes. Diapers. Medical care. It never ends.

When you get your life together & improve your lot THEN have a baby. If you must.

Why make life more difficult for yourself than it already is?

[lawresn1]

Keithle1

because they wouldnt get as much federal assistance, ie. food stamps

[lorajeantn]

Tip for poor women everywhere: DO NOT HAVE KIDS!
You can''''t afford to take care of yourself so why bring another hungry mouth into the world? Kids want & need things 24-7. Food. Clothes. Diapers. Medical care. It never ends.
When you get your life together & improve your lot THEN have a baby. If you must.



because they wouldnt get as much federal assistance, ie. food stamps

Posted by lawresn1 at 10:31 PM : Jul 02, 2008
Why make life more difficult for yourself than it already is?
Posted by Keithle1 at 09:18 PM : Jul 02, 2008

What about those of us who have degrees and USED to have good jobs? I can''t exactly get rid of the children I already have simply because times got tough. Sometimes the best laid plans go astray, and even people who were once amongst the middle class can find themselves in dire straits. Receiving food stamps is hard enough without having to deal with hostility from those more fortunate. Don''t be so quick to judge. It could be you some day.

[legallydull]

Sixty % of the people receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families are Caucasian, yet CBS found Blacks to fit the hateful stereotype of welfare recipients.
CBS did not miss a trick to perpetuate the African American stereotype.
1) Blacks are so stupid that they do not know how to feed their children. They purposely buy unhealthy food for their children so that later on their children will become burdens on State Health Care Systems and Medicare due to high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure, and numerous other healthcare issues related to obesity.
2) By the way, maybe Blacks shouldn''t have children in the first place because the American public (Whites), who faithfully pay their taxes, know that Blacks only have children so that they can go on welfare and not have to work.
3) Even though the people interviewed did have jobs, CBS pointed out that the jobs that were held by the Blacks interviewed were low paying. Americans know that Blacks do not have the intellectual capacity to succeed in academia, which if they could succeed, would pave the for them to secure such high paying health care careers such as registered nurse and doctor.
4) CBS''s parting shot - was showing the family loading a new looking SUV with the food that they had just purchased with food stamps implying to middle America (75% White) - we know you''re hurting - look what your hard earned tax dollars and government are doing for those "OTHER PEOPLE".

[deacon20081]

Such a shame that so many of you posting garbage comments on this story have computers. What a waste of resources.....
As a minister I know many people that have to swallow their pride and accept help to feed their families through no fault of their own. People working for wages that cannot possibly support a single person, but have to support a couple of kids on the same amount are doing the best they can. The economy is, I fear, just starting to make a rapid downward spiral where everyone in this country, with the exception of the Bush Friendship League, is about to suffer drastic changes that will be devastating. Inner city and the suburbs will suffer worse than small towns. Chaos will reign and the "Darwin Awards" will come to be a reality where only the strongest and most well armed will survive.
Farming and ranching communities that will pull together to support and help one another will fare better. The frontier%u2019s will again have to be self supporting.
That is if we have a country to live in at all. The one world ambition of those in power is going to fail miserably, but at what cost?
Just imagine yourself scrounging for the food to live%u2026it could be you next.

[lemonskink]

It''s got to rough on families, but in the end of the video, they should have parked the Escalade around the corner of the building before they loaded it.

[maidie19]

I also saw the video where they were loading the "food stamp" groceries in the Escalade. CBS should have done their interviews in the parking lot where I''m sure we would have seen a lot more upscale, gas guzzling, luxury cars.

[sgtrds-e4]

BTW, a large percentage of our enlisted military families are collecting food stamps too. You might want to think about that before you criticize food stamps recipients as "lazy".

[whiskyrocker]

Get off your lazy a$$#s and get a job. I''m tired of paying for these rejects.

[rondrovan]

GIVE ME A BREAK - did you see the gold chains, jewelry, designer t-shirts, etc on these people?
I buy my own food - no food stamps ever - and I can''t afford to spend my money on designer clothes, jewelry, etc.
MY money goes for my own bills and taxes for these people to have free food and use THEIR money on other purchases!

[rondrovan]

Give me a break - when you are hungry and need groceries you don''t buy makeup, jewelry, nice clothing... you don''t buy Escalades - you scale down on your lifestyle... sell those things and buy food...I disagree with CBS even showing this segment! disgusting.... we are hurting with food prices also and we DON"T get food stamps...

[cyandragon]

Legallydull,

Where did you get that statistic? According to http://www.bls.gov/opub/ils/pdf/opbils39.pdf, 41% of recipients are black, 19% are Hispanic, leaving a maximum of 40% to be non-Hispanic white. Just curious.

I think your points are decent, in that it is wrong to use these irresponsible people and assume that all blacks are like them. That''s obvious.

But it seems like you''re also trying to excuse these specific individuals. We should not be allowed to see black people who are living irresponsibly because *some people* *might* have a racist reaction. That doesn''t make sense.

A simple solution would be to factor in not only income but expenses when deciding on food stamp benefits. If your car payment is more than $X, you don''t get any. If your cable bill is more than $Y, you don''t get any. If you have more than Z cell phones, you don''t get any, etc. Determining X, Y, and Z are exercises left to the reader :)

[cyandragon]

Legallydull,

Where did you get that statistic? According to http://www.bls.gov/opub/ils/pdf/opbils39.pdf, 41% of recipients are black, 19% are Hispanic, leaving a maximum of 40% to be non-Hispanic white. Just curious.

I think your points are decent, in that it is wrong to use these irresponsible people and assume that all blacks are like them. That''s obvious.

But it seems like you''re also trying to excuse these specific individuals. We should not be allowed to see black people who are living irresponsibly because *some people* *might* have a racist reaction. That doesn''t make sense.

A simple solution would be to factor in not only income but expenses when deciding on food stamp benefits. If your car payment is more than $X, you don''t get any. If your cable bill is more than $Y, you don''t get any. If you have more than Z cell phones, you don''t get any, etc. Determining X, Y, and Z are exercises left to the reader :)

[cyandragon]

Legallydull,

Where did you get that statistic? According to http://www.bls.gov/opub/ils/pdf/opbils39.pdf, 41% of recipients are black, 19% are Hispanic, leaving a maximum of 40% to be non-Hispanic white. Just curious.

I think your points are decent, in that it is wrong to use these irresponsible people and assume that all blacks are like them. That''s obvious.

But it seems like you''re also trying to excuse these specific individuals. We should not be allowed to see black people who are living irresponsibly because *some people* *might* have a racist reaction. That doesn''t make sense.

A simple solution would be to factor in not only income but expenses when deciding on food stamp benefits. If your car payment is more than $X, you don''t get any. If your cable bill is more than $Y, you don''t get any. If you have more than Z cell phones, you don''t get any, etc. Determining X, Y, and Z are exercises left to the reader :)

[vnveteran-2009]

Every person interviewed in this segment was healthy and appeared to be to some degree overweight. Espcially the lady who said she used the food stamps to feed her children while she went without meals herself.
Every woman intervied had artificial fingernails and jewelry. Money well spent. I am willing to bet the farm they all have cell phones.
Did anyone notice how high the packages of meat were stacked in the one cart? Never did my family have that much in a cart as I was growing up, or raising my family.
Finally the image of the food stamp groceries being loaded into an automobile I cannot afford.
I will also bet the farm everyone intervied in the store is voting for B.O. for president.
I wish to thank CBS for removing the "sterotype" myth and exposing this freeloading "culture" as a fact.

[mntw1231]

My husband military active for 20 years now. We are black have never received food stamps. There was times when we had to get food from the military emergency food storage. I have seem all race of people on food stamps. I have seem a lot of wasted food purchased with food stamps. They don''t bargain shop, they buy steaks, shrimp and etc. The people that responded so negatively to the blacks need to travel around the world and see that this is happening to all people.

[mcounselor]

As I watched the evening news, I was very disturbed when I saw the segment pertaining to Food Stamps. I currently work as a multicultural counselor at an university, and I work hard everyday to erase stereotypes. It was apparent that everyone in the video were African American, excluding the store owner. Considering that many believe what is seen on T.V., I feel that this segment only furthers the ignorance of others. It enables others to believe that "many" blacks receive government assistance. I strongly feel that this episode would have been more effective if other ethnicities were interviewed. It is evident that based on the economy and regardless of the ethnicity, many families are struggling. Instead of people worry about what type of cars others are driving, lets consider how many children are starving in America. We also need to take in consideration how many people feel as if they are too good to accept government assistance and their children are also starving. Come on America, lets stop focusing on so much negativity and realize that even the middle class are struggling also.

[chardawson]

hate to say it..But, Getting Food Assistance is crazy. I am a white American. And, I get $10 a month for assistance. And, I am on Social Security Disability. Where as if I was a Hispanic or indian, or from any other country. And, I''m not saying "black" they are from the US. Yes, if you are totally African, then it''s wrong. I would get more money if all of these other people didn''t get it. People of other races say that the government is races, but they have never been white. We have to fight for it. Fine, if you were born here..you deserve the money, no matter what your race is. But, if you were born somewhere else, I disagree with it.

[tvent1-2009]

Ok this story makes me sick to my stomach, I am white and live in an area where the populations is mostly black about 60%....vs 40% of other races, first of all if I were to ever walk in to try to get food stamps, WIC, or any other government assistance they would look straight at me and laugh in my face, its so bad here racially speaking that when you register for public school they want to know your income level your(the parents) highest level of education and your race I see that as discrimination but nothing is ever done about it, so people always say that whites are racist and I really hate to bring up the race card but blacks are the ones with the race issue and whites are discriminated more than any other race for everything including government assistance, and this segment makes that very clear, everyone thinks because you are white you automatically have money or you dont need or even deserve assitance and we need it just asmuch somethimes but we dont get it as much simply because of our skin color.

[whiskyrocker]

tvent1 :

You hit the nail on the head. Well said.

[jstskatnby]

Loods like to me that they were not starving (little overweight?). Did you notice what kind of things they were putting into ther cart? And...not to mention that pricy gas guzzling suv they were loading there junk food into. Food assistance is great when you really need it, but the people you showcased need Jenny Craig...not potato chips and soda.

[cmp271]

People need to wake up to how high prices are. It will get worse as the cost of transportation goes up. I don''t feel sorry for those who drive SUV''s, or any other gas guzzler. They deserve to walk!!

[mbasinger2]

How much of this bad economy is perpetuated by the drum beat of the media? Where is FDR when we need him using his fire side chats to reduce the illogical recession panic with some words of encouragement?

[keithle1]

I''m not sure why minorities think every white person has money. Black men coming up to me on the street to beg for money like I own my own bank or something. Never fails. Not like I''m wearing a three-piece suit & stepping out of a Bentley with my wife draped in jewels & furs.

Lots of poor white people out there.

Q: Do black people have issues with birth control?

[scott743]

$25000 a year with two kids.... I manage to support my wife (disabled) and daughter on less! I work full time and go to school full time. I asked for help but was denied. As for the woman with 6 kids and says she''s only getting $369, she is pulling your leg... that is such bull.. I know of a woman with 6 kids, her husband left her and is a "deadbeat dad" she is pulling about $600/mo.

Oh! and another thing.. the comments on this site are for the most part true.. nice luxury cars and designer clothes? C''mon people wake up! You need to sell that SUV and buy a used car.. quit showing off like you''e got something...

[babooph]

Maybe they will all become rich& not have to pay social security ,have 15% dividend taxes,& a safe ,gated comunity to live in-after they pay their social security & income tax ;that is.

[auntiemilis1]

It is *** to sorport freeloaders who have income and speand on things they want instead of what they need. I get SSDI which is about $657 a month. I also get $48 in food stamps my rent takes $295 of my buget then phone $156 that includes home and cell and DSL witch is one of my plesers and the rest is for what I need it make me very mad when I see people spend it on drugs and alchol athings that they do not need!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[libsluv2spit]

for your continued support and vote..The DNC will make sure welfare freeloading continues..

[libsluv2spit]

every wonder why most ''poor'' people are fat and obese???

[keithle1]

Tie your tubes. Tie your boyfriend''s p e n i s in a knot. Whatever it takes to stop poor people from having children. It''s ridiculous. Insane. Makes no sense. Stop it now! You''re not doing your kids any favors!

[redhatterb]

Some people are really cruel. For one thing your vehicle can only be of a certain value in order to receive food stmaps. These people might have borrowed a vehicle in order to get groceries. As far as remarks about weight go, there are some prescription meds that make you gain weight. Sometimes it is genetic. I am 68 years old, three of the prescription meds that I am on cause weight gain. Live off retirement soc. sec. of $600 a month, on food stamps, and the reason a lot of people buy junk food is because it is cheaper than healthy foods. I can''t afford to drink milk at the price it is now. A lot of people buy their whole months supply of groceries at one time, so if it looked like somebody was buying a lot of meat, junk food, etc., that could be why. How does anybody know exactly what kind of clothes and jewelry the women were wearing. It could have been hand me downs and dollar store stuff. Maybe even bought at a thrift store. Nobody has any way of knowing exactly what anybody''s situation was.

[DocHollywood1955]

$369/month and they are complaining?
I am a single white disabled father who gets food stamps for myself and my 13 year old daughter.
Within days of Obongo getting elected I was notified that my food stamp benefits were going from $218/month to a whopping $16/month.
Yes, you reads that right $16.00 a month to feed 2 people.
Maybe if I was black or an illegal alien I would be able to feed my daughter.
I have worked my entire life until I got injured and this is the payback I get for paying taxes!