FOODSTAMPS

 By: Rashad J. Smith

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) also known to millions of Americans as “Food Stamps” surprised hundreds of thousands of recipients with extra “money” this past weekend.

Residents of Rochester, New York rushed to grocery stores this weekend after they found out that their balance on their Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card was way more than usual, in some cases, 10 times as much.

“I checked my card and found out that it was $1500.00 on it and without hesitation I immediately went to spend it on groceries”, says one Monroe County resident who didn’t want to be identified.

Social Media lit up as SNAP participants bragged about the extra support provided on the 15th of November. Some on-line social users are crediting the increase from Harris v. Eggleston, a class-action lawsuit from the 1990’s regarding welfare reform and reimbursement of roughly $12 million dollars in awards for people who were illegally denied food stamps, according to University of Michigan Law School- but that  was in New York City, and not Upstate New York.

Others joked that the 2009 Recovery Act temporary boost to SNAP was supposed to end on November 1st and ended with a bang!
Whatever the reason, as media outlets waits for the government to address this holiday surprise, participants are “balling out of control” and have no intentions on calling to report their mysterious blessing.

“Thanksgiving is about to go down” exclaimed a shopper at Wal-Mart  on Hudson Ave. in Rochester.
While SNAP participants are celebrating, working people are upset that their tax-paying dollars are going towards providing extra income for “lazy people who are not trying to better themselves”, explained a Monroe County republican who recently voted for the defeated incumbent Mayor of Rochester, Tom Richards.
What do you think about the recent uproar about Food Stamps in America?