Posted on 04/30/2007 5:39:21 AM PDT by ParsifalCA
Authorities here are charging Beverly Benford, a former Statewide Administrative Coordinator with the California Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program (FSNEP), with embezzling funds by means of false purchases going back to 2000. Benford, 65, has pleaded not guilty. While she deals with the justice system, the nutrition program can serve an educational purpose.
The FSNEP is part of the federal Food Stamp Program (FSP), part of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which claims that in 2006 the FSP assisted approximately 26 million people. "The Food Stamp Program serves as the first line of defense against hunger," explains the official website. "It enables low-income families to buy nutritious food with Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards. Food stamp recipients spend their benefits to buy eligible food in authorized retail food stores."
The Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program, in its own description, exists to "improve the likelihood that persons eligible for the FSP will make healthy food choices within a limited budget and choose physically active lifestyles consistent with the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans and MyPyramid." Official websites also tout "food-safety skills" as a benefit.
In other words, put down those nachos, pick up your veggies, get some exercise, and careful handling that pasta. The government spends nearly $14 million a year to dish out this advice...
(Excerpt) Read more at californiarepublic.org ...
They are running ads all the time to get more people to sign up for food stamps. Seems that they have a lot of money left over, and many unclaimed stamps.
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