Posted on 10/02/2013 10:13:49 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
Shutdown puts WIC food program for vulnerable mothers at risk
Jason Sickles, Yahoo! 2 hours ago
DALLAS — In a shopping center parking lot 1,300 miles from Washington’s bureaucracy and bickering, teen mom Karina Luciano loaded a watermelon and baby formula into her car.
Luciano didn’t realize the federal assistance program that just purchased the food items for her children, Aimee, 2, and Jaiden, 11 months, is now in jeopardy because of the government shutdown.
“Oh my god, I think I’m going to cry,” Luciano said upon learning the news. “This is really bad.”
Nearly 9 million low-income mothers and children receive benefits under the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children. Congress’ inability to pass a funding bill forced the USDA, which oversees the $7 billion program, to shutter support for WIC’s clinical services, food and administrative costs.
“Due to the lapse in federal government funding, this website is not available,” read a message on the WIC page of USDA.gov.
The defunding, which doesn't affect USDA programs for school lunches and food stamps, is already producing consequences across the country.
Late on Tuesday, WIC officials in Utah closed all offices and canceled appointments until the federal government resumes operations.
“Utah WIC checks for the month of October are still being accepted at WIC authorized grocery stores,” the Utah Department of Health wrote on its website.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Well, we know that the media, being the employee pool for lib dim administrations, wants EVERYONE in this country on the govt dole...
...a watermelon. LOL.
When you go to a misogynist, always get the extra services! LOL
Almost?
However, I do want to clarify a few things. I am a WIC mom (who is married, and does not drink/take drugs/smoke, btw.) I wouldn't know who to sell a can of formula to if my life depended on it, and I've never done drugs ever.
WIC is VERY different from SNAP/aka food stamps. To get WIC, you have to have children under the age of 5. Older children/teens get nothing from WIC. Neither do spouses. We have to go into an office, be weighed and measured every few weeks. An average monthly benefit is something like this:
$16.00 worth of fresh or frozen fruit/vegetables, 7 gallons of milk, 2 pounds of cheese, 2-3 boxes of unsweetened cereal, 3 cans of juice concentrate or bottles or 3 bottles of juice, 2 dozen eggs, 2 loaves of whole grain bread, formula cans for babies under 1 yr., 1 pound of brown rice, canned or dry beans. If baby is solely breast-fed, you get a little more of the above items, and either canned tuna or sardines. Nothing else. Thankfully, I know how to cook, so working with staples is fine with me.
SNAP recipients(from what I have heard) have much greater leeway as to what they are able to buy. More convenience foods, meats, etc.
I have a 4 yr. old and an infant, so only we 3 are eligible for WIC. Our benefits will drop soon, because my 4 yr. old will be turning 5, and I will be eligible only until the baby is a year old. WIC also has rent-free hospital grade breast pumps, which has been wonderful, saving us $75.00 a month for a hospital rental. The breast pump issue was actually why we applied for WIC.
My husband is currently unemployed, so it has really been a godsend for us, as unemployment doesn't go all that far. We view this as purely temporary, and just a help, not a lifestyle. We actually applied for SNAP, but because we have a 2nd car worth (slightly) more than $4,000, we were immediately ruled out from eligibility. Yes, lots of folks lie about their 2nd car, but we won't do that.
For what it's worth, I would be happy to undergo random drug or hair testing for benefits, and heck, I'll even breast-feed the baby in front of the WIC ladies, just to prove I'm breast feeding my little one. My husband & I are not young, so we have a different mind-set than some of the young kids on the program. I'm pretty embarrassed to even use my card during the day or on weekends. I wait until after my baby's 1 AM feeding, and then once she's asleep, I go to Wal-Mart and use the WIC card. I don't mind being a bit embarrassed, because once you stop feeling embarrassed, you're taking it for granted.
WIC is the most abused program in the country. The vast majority of women get WIC; regardless of need. It’s as bad as school lunches and just as politically motivated.
It is nothing more than a back-door method to price fix dairy products and subsidize other select foodstuffs from politically savvy manufacturers. If it stopped today, the food would be available from charities—just like before WIC ever started.
The government has no business in charity. None at all.
That’s Right Baby!!!
I thought it was “Misogynist”. OK, I’m guilty of that, too.
I don’t care for any of these “Julia” parasites.
/sarc tag is always implied.
Boo Hoo. Like I care. Sell your Obamaphone and buy food.
:)
WIC should be ended. It’s just another massive bureaucracy that spends more than is sent out on bloated government salaries.
It’s also in a long ling of duplicate programs. Food Stamps, WIC, SNAP, EITC, etc.
I knew a girl on WIC (stupid idiot that never shut her legs and never married) and she’d get more than she could buy or use so “sold” the excess milk, butter, etc. and buy drugs.
Total waste of money.
Fifteen years ago I had a neighbor on WIC. Only had 1 kid and received enough to buy about 6 gallons of milk a week along with formula and other dairy and fruit.
She got so much she would sell it to her friends.
Yeah? Well, since I can’t access WIC website I’ll have to take your word for it....
LOL
Hehe, good one! You can google “what can I buy on WIC” to find out.
New post coming up to demonstrate why this is all just silly.
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