Community Experience

For this activity I applied for food stamps.
As I was doing this, there were a couple of things that really stuck out to me. For example the monthly gross income that would qualify a household for food stamps was staggeringly low. For a household of two individuals the income couldn't surpass $1,594 which is pretty low. My wife and I both work and we bring in more money than that but we still struggle to pay for groceries some months. Now once you for every individual on top of that you get an additional $414. So if my wife and I were to have a kid, then we would only need to make less than $2,008 a month, which would be the case. This makes me wonder about those families that do receive food stamps. And on a educational basis, I wonder how their children are holding up in school.
If families were to receive food stamps they probably don't have very many "extras" that I have, for example that probably don't have a nice tv, laptop, car, and other "toys" like I do. This would be very difficult. I couldn't imagine doing my homework without access to a computer.
It could also be the case that some individuals who would qualify for these food stamps would be afraid to actually apply, because they would be too afraid of being judged by their friends and others that know them. Just like when we talked about being the other and being put into a new situation, applying for food stamps could be very hard and scary, if you were in a position were you didn't have much.
I think this is where it is important for you to look at your own values and aspirations. Would you rather be made fun of because you qualified for food stamps or would you like to be able to buy food for your family so that they can survive without too much stress?
Poverty is a very real thing in todays world, but I feel like that those that are in the heart of it are to afraid to ask for the right help because of the judgement that may come down on them by their peers.
As a result of participating in this activity, I have made a goal to be more understanding of those that may be experiencing poverty and do what I can to make things easier for them.