How many here at some point in time were on federal assistance...

or your families were on it? Just curious.

After my mother's father (a sharecropper in the Sledge, Miss. area) passed away, my grandmother had to go on welfare for the rest of her life. She did take in sewing and laundry, did some babysitting, etc. There were no jobs to be had in that area and no money to leave (all the family was there). My mother was the youngest of 12 in a Mormon family, although there were some who had married and left. So much for Mormons taking care of their own. Grandma had to part of a house because they were kicked off the sharecropper's farm after Grandpa died. As soon as Mom turned 18 she got on a bus to Memphis and never moved back.

If it hadn't been for welfare they would have been homeless for certain, and that's the least of their problems. Health care? No, they didn't have any of that Mom described (or they didn't ever go to the doctor). Mom was always hungry (or 'hongry' as she called it) and skinny as a rail. Her older married sisters bought her clothes and books for school. She never learned how to swim, roller skate or ride a bike because they just didn't have that luxury.

but not my household.

working divorced mother with two toddlers

with three children - one being severely disabled and in need of 24 hour one on one care. Without welfare she would have been in a high cost institution most of her life. I once figured out what I got paid (through welfare) to take care of her and it added up to $.33 an hour. Today I am homeless and with only about $240 Social Security and $450 SSI. Still poor enough for Medicare/Medicaid and food stamps. I do not regret taking care of her because her doctors tell me she is doing great because of the care she received. In the end after 45 years of care I had the privilege of training her foster parents to care for her like I did.

NO ONE should ever be ashamed of taking help they really need. That is what it is meant for.

very little money came in during that time...let's see, returning
soldier (VietNam era) and no job waiting..sound familiar?!!!

The California State work training program helped while we waited the year for
residency and less tuition cost for College.

Thank you California voters...way back then...for caring
about returning soldiers.


The Tikkis

...for a few years.

now because he has been laid-off since Dec. and she since Feb. She was working part-time a Dairy Queen but she has a heart problem and had a bout with an irregular heartbeat a while back. Dr. had her off work for a week to fix it with meds, the management now keeps telling her they "don't really need her this week". The cowards will not fire her or lay her off, at least she would be able to get unemployment if they did.

social security disability, has been disabled and not able to work for over 10 years. We went through bankruptcy two times in the last 17 years all due to medical bills. I also had several heart attacks, and was not able to work for some time - we got food stamps for a few months then.
I am now retired, have a small pension, will be getting my own social security in the fall. We would not have been able to live without food stamps - they got us food, freed money for other bills.
We are both white college grads from middle class/upper middle class families, for whatever that is worth.

mark

Hopefully, I get back to work soon.

We've been unemployed since February, ugh.

You know it's bad if the railroad is laying off.

when my first daughter was a baby. I found myself unexpectedly being a single mother, and I lived in a small town in California where employment opportunities were limited. I supplemented my whopping $150 a month (plus foodstamps) with child care money and occasional typing jobs. I had enough of it after three years, so I moved to Alaska where my family lived and where things were booming at the time.

Since I otherwise have paid income taxes for 42 years, my conscience is clear.

even if you hadn't paid income taxes, it's obvious you needed the assistance and that's what is there for.
I'm glad things worked out for you. :D

1970, divorced, 2 kids under 4, no HS dip.
And had no car, lousy bus service.
Lived in a mill town that had a pattrn of boom and bust every 10 years.
Came from blue collar alcoholic/Irish family ( 3 generations of 'em, far as i can tell).

Here's an interesting thing.
When I was married, after 2 kids and difficult deliveries, I wanted to get a tubal ligation.
The rule then ( 1969-70) was you had to have spouse's permission, Dr. 's permission
AND a panel of 3 psychiatrists had to determine you were not crazy because you no longer wanted to breed.
The ex refused permission and got a vasectomy...on his own.
No "permission" from spouse or shrink for the men, ya notice.
But...when I went on welfare, they cheerfully provided the tubal, free of charge.

By 1979, I had a Master's Degree, had worked for 5 years as a paralegal.
It was long long hard road, well worth it, tho.

just goes to show how important a good education really is in lifting people up. :)

I was about 5 years ahead of the "grade inflation" curve, tho.
For my parents, a high school diploma was the equivelant of a BA today.
When I got my Master's, I was being "strongly" encouraged to go on to a PH.D.
since BA was the new entry level requirement in my field.
And....after Raygun, the Social Services field was being un-funded.
It pretty much died by 1990.
I was really lucky many many times to be in the right place at the right time for
education and job opportunites that do not exist anymore.

Today...people are dumbing down their resumes so as to not appear overqualified for the poor paying jobs that remain in this country.
And reading/critical thinkig are still urgently needed skills.

How about a RW ditto-head brother?

LOL, what is it with him??

I think it's the crowd he runs with combined with very low self-esteem and neediness to be accepted. He has always been a little too much of a suck up. You would think a man pushing 70 would be beyond seeking peer approval.

He wants lots of stuff from government and then wants to dump ON government too. But only when the DEMs are in charge.

He has stopped mindlessly forwarding ditto-head email crap. Guess he got tired of me calling him on it in REPLY ALL emails :evilgrin:

My mom hated going on Medicare. My bro thinks he is owed all the medical he can dream of. I will die long before he does.

lost his job a few weeks ago.

I have been on Disability in the past, don't know if that counts as welfare, but felt like it to me, and I could not have survived without it.

Brother on welfare in the past, and I know what Government cheese tastes like as my family when I was growing up took aid of some kind, never knew what it was because my WWII era parents were horrified to have to do so.

If it hadn't been for the welfare that the Pentagon showered on their contractors, I would have had a hard time paying the rent and affording health care.

Like sewing, cooking, gardening, etc.

When my Mom worked at the County Hospital, she brought home vaccinations for all of us, but I think that was a normal thing for the nurses, so anything they might bring home would have less chance of making their families ill. When she stopped working at the hospital, there were times she took us to the county public health clinic for treatment.

because we didn't make very much money at the time and I also got pell grants for college.

and my mother could try to re-enter the work force.

It's hard to support a family on your own when you have three kids under age 12 and are eight months pregnant with #4 when your husband cuts out.