SNAP

Food Stamps. From here on out I am going to refer to the program under its ‘new’ acronym of SNAP which stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Make no mistake This is a welfare program. This program is run by the Department of Agriculture. Food Stamps became SNAP in 2008 and this capped off unwinding of the actual physical paper ‘stamps’ to the debit/credit (EBT) type cards that began to roll out in the late ‘90’s to cut down on administrative costs and fraud. Eligibility is based on income and resources. This is one of many alphabet welfare programs that the government puts forth and it might be possible for a person to qualify for assistance elsewhere. This is especially true for pregnant woman and young children ( WIC and AFDC for example). Although the Department of Agriculture is the overlord, the actual nuts and bolts of administration belongs to each state and its Health and Human Services Department. Fun, fun. The GENERAL guidelines are as follows: a single person cannot make more than $1,180/mo gross ( before taxes) that's $14,160/yr which is $7.37/hr for 40 hours a week ( Federal Minimum Wage is $7.25). For a family of four the amount you must be below per month is $2,422 that’s $29,064/yr. I can’t tell you how many jobs I see pay between $16,000 and $25,000 and many are for college graduates. If you’re a single mother of two its $2008/mo you must be below. And what do you get? Well the maximum benefit for a family of four is $668/mo for a family of three it’s $526/mo and for a single person such as myself it is $200/mo. That’s the number I am going to play off of. Fifty dollars a week., $7.14 a day, $2.38 a meal.