by The Master
About six million Americans receiving food stamps report they have no other income, according to an analysis of state data collected by The New York Times. In declarations that states verify and the federal government audits, they described themselves as unemployed and receiving no cash aid — no welfare, no unemployment insurance, and no pensions, child support or disability pay. Members of this straitened group range from displaced strivers like Ms. Bermudez to weathered men who sleep in shelters and barter cigarettes. Some draw on savings or sporadic under-the-table jobs. Some move in with relatives. Some get noncash help, like subsidized apartments. While some go without cash incomes only briefly before securing jobs or aid, others rely on food stamps alone for many months. Here in Florida, the number of people with no income beyond food stamps has doubled in two years and has more than tripled along once-thriving parts of the southwest coast. The building frenzy that lured Ms. Bermudez to Fort Myers and neighboring Cape Coral has left a wasteland of foreclosed homes and written new tales of descent into star-crossed indigence. A skinny fellow in saggy clothes who spent his childhood in foster care, Rex Britton, 22, hopped a bus from Syracuse two years ago for a job painting parking lots. Now, with unemployment at nearly 14 percent and paving work scarce, he receives $200 a month in food stamps and stays with a girlfriend who survives on a rent subsidy and a government check to help her care for her disabled toddler. A grandmother whose voice mail message urges callers to “have a blessed good day,” Wanda Debnam, 53, once drove 18-wheelers and dreamed of selling real estate. But she lost her job at Starbucks this year and moved in with her son in nearby Lehigh Acres. Now she sleeps with her 8-year-old granddaughter under a poster of the Jonas Brothers and uses her food stamps to avoid her daughter-in-law’s cooking. But others say the lack of cash support shows the...
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Year in Review:Criminal cases cause controversy Chadron Record - Jan 05, 2010
The death of 16-year-old Jesse Britton in Crawford in 2007 carried forward onto the pages of the newspaper in 2009 as the court proceedings finally took and more »
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City Budget Deficit Is Only On Paper Dade County Sentinel - Dec 16, 2009
It had taken several weeks for him to receive his insurance check and then he had purchased the materials to fix the damage. Britton even asked city
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Living on Nothing but Food Stamps Tuscaloosa News - Jan 03, 2010
A skinny fellow in saggy clothes who spent his childhood in foster care, Rex Britton, 22, hopped a bus from Syracuse two years ago for a job painting and more »
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Names in the News Southeast Missourian - Dec 23, 2009
The Missouri Association of Realtors recognized Sue Britton and Kyle Owens of the Cape Girardeau Excellence School of Real Estate for completing the and more »
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Friday Night Lights Episode 4-6 Review Inside Pulse (blog) - Dec 13, 2009
Connie Britton killed these scenes, as she always does. If Matt and Julie were meant to make us think about when to cut bait on a strained relationship,
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