In NYC there are radio ads practically begging people to sign up for food stamps.
Obviously, the advertising staff is sufficiently large.
My late brother in law was on food stamps when he died. I was the executor of his will. It took me three months, culminating in a major in-person shouting match with one of the dumbest women in North America, to get him off their rolls. I was later told that many people simply keep on cashing the food stamps because it's impossible to get people to understand that a dead man can't come in and sign forms taking him off the rolls.
I live in NY also. I don't get it *lol*