That doesn't seem to add up. Five-three job  => full time, if not more. 40 hours *7.25 (minimum wage) *52 weeks/year = $15,080 per year (that is about 40% more than my mother would make, she is a waitress who averaged a little less than minimum wage even after tips and worked less than full time on average ~ 30 hours/week.) I am sure your mother qualified, especially if you got free lunch that implies you qualify for food stamps as well. You would also qualify for medicaid/chip in Pennsylvania with that income. So...

Right that is in the present. Obviously when she was 15 she could not get a job like that. Worked at Mcdonalds for $4 minimum wage I think it was or $5.25.

Many times and many years she had no job though. She basically took money from our grand parents and made them as poor as us.

I got free lunch but I have not seen a food stamp in 13 years.

Had no insurance when i broke my leg in 8th grade, my grandpa found some to pay for it though.

Cant force people to take help. what state did you live in? if your family was poor, free health care, and food stamps/snap (EBT which is just food stamps on a debit card) should of been available.

Nothing wrong with your upbringing. But you lived in essentially a suburb, and likely a predominantly white one. Try living in the poorer areas of Los Angeles, Detroit, New York, Houston, D.C. or New Oreleans where you have to fear for your lives and the lives of those you love everyday. Or where the racial makeup is significantly a minority. The story becomes MUCH MUCH different. Also you forget, the job market has not always been great, unemployment rates are still high. You really don't qualify for help with no job.

I have an incredibly hard time believing that statistic. While I fully understand there are a LOT of people in this country who aren't living in the same situation as me, that is literally over 20% of the population under 18 in the US.

Looking at the website, 15.3 million live in 'Food Insecure' households. Got me interested in what food insecurity means. Per the USDA website, low food insecurity: reports of reduced quality, variety, or desirability of diet. Little or no indication of reduced food intake.

Very low food insecurity: Reports of multiple indications of disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake.

So this got me curious how many people are classified as being in each section. 14% of households were food insecure, and only 5.6% were very low food insecure. Further, when I looked a little deeper into the USDA website, these statistics are for an entire year. So if a household was food insecure from January 1st through January 15th, they are included in the statistic for the entire year.

It goes even further, and indicates only 1.1% of households with children had 1 or more child who experienced reduced food intake and disrupted eating patterns at some point during the year. Keep in mind if a household has 3 children, and only 1 experiences reduced food intake, they are included in this statistic.

So no, there aren't anywheres close to 15.3 million children not getting enough food. That number is likely less than 800k (using 2010 census #'s of 72.3 million children * 1.1%...which is probably high due to multi-children households where not all children have food issues), and that isn't even on a daily basis in all cases, but rather at some point throughout the year.

*Note, the website later indicates 1.2%, and that a total of 914k children live in a house where at least 1 child has very low food security. Thus, at a maximum, there are 914k children who don't get enough food at least 1 time during the year.

It really depends on your state how bad being poor is. Section 8 housing here in SW Fl has a 5 year wait list last I heard. Our medicaid program is a joke here as well and our crime rate is getting worse by the month. 

State of Iowa should be pretty high up on the list. But I would not know why my mother would keep essentially 5 people in poverty if she could get this free stuff. I have not studied the benefits for my state, but I assume jobless should be able to get stuff.

Edit: Current Iowa SNAP

3 $26,117 Max

My mother has never made that much money in a year in her life and proportional past amounts.

Some people are pretty embarrassed by it, or simply don't like the idea of free handouts. You likely wouldn't see me take any of this stuff unless I literally couldn't afford ramen.

i think a lot of the problem is poor people don't know about the benefits, i mean i never thought about them before and i'm not learning that they are far more generous than i thought they were. It really depends on your state though, i'm talking about minnesota. I feel more sorry for the middle class than i do for the poor. The benefits you miss out on by having your income just a little bit too high are pretty big, a huge chunk of americans fit in that category. There really is this benefit cliff that i've noticed at about 38-40k for a household of 3.

Yea  I used to be emabrresed to shop with my mom when she had to use food stamps. looking back though it was stupid to be embarressed. She only used them when she had no other choice.