To the editor:
When people hear about food stamps, they often think people are lazy. It has quite the stigma. To get and keep food stamps you have to work and or volunteer 20 hours of your time. Many people who are on food stamps help each month to keep food on the table for their family or for themselves. I myself work but look forward to the extra help each month.
During the government shutdown I went through the whole month of October not having them. I recently received them in the second week of November. It was tough with lots of uncertainty to know if we were going to receive them or not. During this time I did go to the local food pantries, as did so many others. Some had limited supply as more people went to them who happened to be there for the first time. The food that I did receive only lasted a few days — about two to three meals for the week. As you could imagine it was hard.
I did see a few restaurants offer food to anyone who received food stamps. All you had to do was just show your food stamp card, no questions asked. A few were on the North Shore with pizza and sandwiches. But what really surprised me was iIn this wealthy town Marblehead, no restaurants or supermarkets offered anything to people getting food stamps. I say to myself, I wonder why? Nobody wants to help? Or does the town think nobody’s getting food stamps in this town Marblehead.
To the people who I see on social media saying bad things about food stamps, how dare you. This could be you someday. I work hard each week and have medical issues as well. I appreciate the opportunity I have to be able to receive food stamps to keep healthy food. As my diabetes doctor says each time I see him, “Food is medicine.” That day when I did receive food stamps in the second week in November, I went out and was so excited to go food shopping. I bought that healthy food which is my medicine.
January brings back uncertainty if we all food stampers will receive them once again. For now, while we have them, let’s eat.
Whitney Payne
Farrell Court
