When Matt first started talking about joining the Navy, and we were discussing what the income situation would be, I think I may have jokingly said something about us qualifying for public assistance. We agreed that we would be close, but sort of forgot about it, since we were so far from it at that point.
As everyone knows, things have been tight lately. Really tight. The mold and the landlord were two things that were completely unanticipated and unbudgeted for. But it's why you have savings, right?
While I was reading through the base welcome guide for San Diego, there was an entire page about WIC (note: very different from food stamps) and other public programs. Oh that's right, I said to myself. Public assistance! So I clicked on the link and read some more. I told Matt we should probably make an appointment when we get there to just check it out. It's there, right? (Note: Military pay is broken up into a myriad of segments. There's your base pay, there's your BAH (basic allowance for housing), there are clothing allowances (uniforms), BAS (basic allowance for subsistence), etc etc. WIC only considers the base pay and the BAS amounts (and some of the other stipends, which we don't get) when considering eligibility, so you don't have to count the BAH money you get each month.)
And then later I thought, hey dummy, they have that in MN, too, and pretty sure your income situation is identical here as it will be there. So I called to see about setting up an appointment. Of course on the first phone call, with Matt's pay statement in hand, I boffed the numbers and they told me I didn't qualify. I was shocked! I thought I had walked through this all ahead of time! And then I realized that Matt's pay statements are at a monthly level, not bi-weekly. So of course we wouldn't qualify if the number I gave them was our bi-monthly gross income instead of our monthly income. I called back, left another message, and anxiously awaited for another call.
The appointment was set up for today. I had to bring Bug with me, and a whole lot of documentation and paperwork. We show up and... I've forgotten the income statement. SERIOUSLY?? But they will give you three vouchers no questions asked; you just have to bring it the following month. Interesting.
The program is indeed called WIC (women, infants and children) but the only women they are concerned about are the pregnant ones. This was all about Bug. They took her height and her weight and they had to prick her finger to test her hemoglobin (oh, the trauma!). Then I sat in a room with a woman and answered a bunch of questions.
A few things before I continue. The building was in sad shape. They told me they have no funding, so they cannot have a receptionist, so if I ever call again I will have to leave a message and they will return my call. The women working there were a bit... harsh. I'm sure they have seen just about everything. It felt kind of goofy pulling up in our car with our things, but you know, situations change.
I went through Bug's medical history. I had to rehash the breastfeeding story which, apparently, 19 months later, still bothers me. I got the hand slap about feeding Bug bottled water instead of tap (no fluoride. But it smells funny!). I was asked why my pediatrician wasn't concerned about Bug's calcium intake because we're back on a no-dairy kick. I half-lied that she eats a lot of broccoli, which I know contains a lot of calcium, even though she doesn't actually eat all that much of it.
Then she started asking me about which food programs I wanted to be on. Did I want tortillas or bread? Oatmeal or brown rice? It was overwhelming to have to answer immediately. I am a meticulous grocery shopper. I don't do anything in regards to food quickly, unless it's buying a bag of candy corn.
We went through the dairy. They don't cover rice milk. I'm thinking to myself, OK, just take the milk and drink it yourself. But they only allow whole milk, and you can't buy organic. You also cannot buy organic cheese or eggs. Or sliced, diced or grated cheese. They DO allow organic fresh produce, but when I saw how much money I got per month ($6???), that was completely out of the question.
There are two whole pages about juice. I said to her, "I don't mean to sound snooty, but why do you encourage so much juice when it's so high in calories and sugar?" Bug generally doesn't drink a lot of juice because I don't drink a lot of juice. She explained to me that you can only buy "100% juice" with "120% Vitamin C" and that they suggest only "four ounces a day." Riiight. I have a coupon that allows me two 64 ounce containers of juice. For one 19-month old kid! That's a helluva lot of juice. I suppose that's two ounces a day per month divided out, but it's not like they're giving me an equivalent amount of loaves of bread (only one!).
I said the obvious when I blurted "this is a supplementary program, isn't it." But I'm not even sure what this supplements. You get three vouchers a month. Each voucher has to be used in its entirety (i.e. you forfeit what you don't spend on the voucher). But it doesn't buy much of anything. I don't know what I was expecting, but I guess it seemed small. And we are not in as dire of straits as I'm sure a lot of people are. We have health insurance, we have additional money for our housing, etc. She gave me information on food shelves, but I can't go that far. Although some might argue this is the same thing, I can't take away that food from families that have NOTHING in their cupboards.
So of the vouchers, one has a dollar amount on it (I'm allowed $6 worth of fresh/frozen/canned fruit and vegetables), and the other two have items listed with no max dollar amount. I know this is not fiscally responsible, but my natural instinct is to buy the most expensive, fancy things I can (well, as fancy as brown rice can get?) on the vouchers that have no max.
I also can't get out of my mind how additional children and/or a pregnancy would get me more money. How can you ignore that? ESPECIALLY if you were in some sort of crazy spot where this was your only way to eat. Do you see what I'm saying? I think that public assistance means well, but somehow it misses the mark.
I wasn't sure exactly when I was going to use the vouchers. And then I went to Target tonight and decided to try it (so it appears they are "just like cash" ... both burn a hole in my pocket?). Because I was just going to use the produce voucher, it took a little less time, but it was still time-consuming. I had to find canned fruits that were only packaged in their own juice (Bug LOVES mandarin oranges). That left me with pineapple tidbits, unless I wanted to spend $5 a jar. No mandarin oranges.
Then I went and got some cut up cantaloupe (I went with the cut up instead of the whole because it was $1 cheaper and we'd never get through an entire cantaloupe before it went bad anyway), some apples, bananas, and a conventional green bell pepper even though I know its laden with pesticides. I sat and stared at my cart. Is that $6? It should be, right? But I didn't just spend $15, did I? DAMMIT IT WAS SO MUCH EASIER WHEN I DIDN'T CARE.
I went and got in line and separated out all of the produce first for one transaction (a tip from the office). He rang up the Honeycrisp and although I was embarrassed for myself as I sat there gripping the counter staring intently at the prices adding up I actually asked him to take them out of the bag because they were too expensive. I remember when I first started working for Target I was doing a store experience at the Coon Rapids store and I was standing at Guest Services and a mom was at the desk with a bag full of clearance kids clothes and three kids in her cart and she was returning all of it because she needed the money back to buy food. I remember thinking I wanted to just give her a $10 bill so she could keep all the clothes and then still get the food, but I didn't (probably a good choice in hindsight). I felt like that mom all of a sudden.
Turns out to do a WIC transaction at Target, they need to start the transaction differently than a regular sale. A pregnant couple who had emptied their cart onto the belt behind me started gathering their things as the minutes ticked past. The cashier had to void everything and start over, but it's OK because now the cashier and I both know what to do next time. I was a little put off by the fact that they NEVER checked my ID or signature, even though the WIC office stated that I needed to have both ready because they have "some issues with people stealing these." I suppose it's like any payment type... you could steal someone's credit card, and retailers barely look at the signature any more (except the post office. Seriously, post office, you just want us all to wait longer in line.)
At the end it was relatively painless, although it still felt a little funny (and I owed an extra $2.79). It's a tad bit frustrating that the food choices are so limited (eating healthy is a privilege, not a right), but I'll bend where I need to. Buying on a seriously strict budget will be good for me. I am not complaining; it is fortunate that these programs are available, and I do not regret any of the choices we've made so far. This is why we ALWAYS donated to STEP (and still do) because I always said to Matt, what if we ever needed this one day? And although we are certainly not at the food shelf point (and hopefully we won't ever be) it's nice to have a little help to feed the Bug who eats like a teenage boy.
No comments:
Post a Comment