Gov't Assistance: WIC, food stamps

[Miranda]

Skimming this thread, will hafta go back and re-read it when I don't have a headache. But it makes me mad.

We were very poor when I was a kid and did receive some assistance. We did not have anything showy. We truly needed the help. Sometimes we didn't get the help, and church somehow randomly came thru.

We have some blended into the family relatives that drive those nicer vehicles mentioned in this thread and get their illigetimate, illegal children fully paid for with Medicaid, and what not... while I'm paying more for our rx meds we need out of pocket with insurance coverage... which total more than my monthly mortgage payment... it's a stretch to make the ends meet... much less be able to "afford" what the the free (well, I'm paying for that too) health care the relatives have.

[withm]

My mother was right - you just can't make any assumptions about someone else's financial situation. You don't know the facts and once you start counting your neighbor's money it really says something about yourself.

[goldfinch]

I wish people wouldn't refer to kids as illegitimate. Or illegal for that matter.
People who are in this country illegally are not eligible for medicaid. They can get emergency room treatment to point of stabilization at a hospital.

[BodhiTree]

I grew up very poor. Father in prison, mother in a coma for months, and everything else you'd expect to see in a bad soap opera.

My friends gave me clothes, my mom's friends gave us places to stay and later loaned her a car, a church we didn't even belong to gave us food. We got free lunch at school.

We didn't look "bad" from the outside.

I try very hard as an adult not to judge. Sometimes I see things that get me angry and seem unfair. "Why do they get all this help from the government, while we got so little and had to rely on friends and charity?" "Why am I paying so much in taxes while those people get free stuff I can't afford myself?"

1. Life isn't fair.

2. Sometimes what looks ok from the outside actually sucks from the inside.

Balance those two out for yourself. If you are truly made miserable over a free-lunch child riding in an SUV to school, report it. If it's no skin off your nose, let it go.

Life is too short to waste your time carrying anger.

[PamNY]

I grew up very poor. Father in prison, mother in a coma for months, and everything else you'd expect to see in a bad soap opera.

My friends gave me clothes, my mom's friends gave us places to stay and later loaned her a car, a church we didn't even belong to gave us food. We got free lunch at school.

We didn't look "bad" from the outside.

I try very hard as an adult not to judge. Sometimes I see things that get me angry and seem unfair. "Why do they get all this help from the government, while we got so little and had to rely on friends and charity?" "Why am I paying so much in taxes while those people get free stuff I can't afford myself?"

1. Life isn't fair.

2. Sometimes what looks ok from the outside actually sucks from the inside.

Balance those two out for yourself. If you are truly made miserable over a free-lunch child riding in an SUV to school, report it. If it's no skin off your nose, let it go.

Life is too short to waste your time carrying anger.

Wise advice.

Goldfinch, I agree about the term "illegitimate."

[salsabike]

We didn't look "bad" from the outside.

I try very hard as an adult not to judge. Sometimes I see things that get me angry and seem unfair. "Why do they get all this help from the government, while we got so little and had to rely on friends and charity?" "Why am I paying so much in taxes while those people get free stuff I can't afford myself?"

1. Life isn't fair.

2. Sometimes what looks ok from the outside actually sucks from the inside.

Balance those two out for yourself. If you are truly made miserable over a free-lunch child riding in an SUV to school, report it. If it's no skin off your nose, let it go.

Life is too short to waste your time carrying anger.

Wise advice.

Goldfinch, I agree about the term "illegitimate."

Yes. Ditto to all of that.