You might remember back in late October during the government shutdown, Worcester with GREAT fanfare announced that there was a local effort to help families struggling with hunger as SNAP benefits were also shut down. Among the things listed:
...4,000 food gift cards — each worth $100 — will go to individuals and families who stand to lose SNAP benefits on Nov. 1....$150,000 will go to the Worcester Public Schools so students and their families have access to nutritious food
Now, I know I wasn't alone in observing that there are 24,000 students in the Worcester Public Schools and 72% of them count as low income, so that was not going nearly far enough. At least, I am sure we all thought, it was something.
So I had to re-read these paragraphs from the T&G last week twice to be sure I understood this correctly:
A recent example of the slow pace of bureaucracy is how 4,000 food gift cards were distributed to Worcester families who temporality lost federal food aid benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program during the recent government shutdown.
Donations received by the United Way of Central Massachusetts paid for the cards, each with a $100 value, and Morales said 800 have been given to families of students in the Worcester Public Schools. More cards are available, but families must fill out an application and that takes time.
Morales also noted 1,300 of the 4,000 food cards were disbursed by the Worcester Community Action Council before Thanksgiving.
So...just over half the cards went out BY A MONTH LATER?
And families of kids in WPS had to FILL OUT AN APPLICATION to get the cards?
Every day, the Worcester Public Schools feed any child who attends. No one fills out anything, because--and this is quite explicitly why the federal program works as it does!--WE KNOW THAT IS A BARRIER to food.
What on EARTH?
No comments:
Post a Comment