University of South Carolina Libraries
Food Stay By MARILYN JOHNSTON "Last stop for the food stamp place!" the bus driver shouted to his passengers, who were already lined up at the door. The Ridgewood bus rolled away in the dust of the hot summer day. The Ridgewood Camp area is a community of modest homes, apartments and shacks, laced here and there with a patch of woods. The honeysuckle and pines grow right up to the yard surrounding the Food Stamp Center. The building which houses the Food Stamp Division of the Welfare Department is a low, rambling, ex-hospital. The receptionist inside takes the names of prospective food stamp recipients on a first come-first served basis. Each person gets a number and when his name comes up he sees a case worker, who then takes the information, which determines if the person receives food stamps. A small green authorization card is mailed to those who qualify. Only applications and re-certifications are taken at Ridgewood now, while the various post offices handle the actual selling of the stamps. You have entered another world when you arrive at the Food Stamp Center. It is the world of the elderly, the disabled, the mother with small children (stamps often their only sup port) and sometimes the student. They are all waiting, most of the time willing to talk, to tell their troubles and needs. In fact, the different needs are a source of constant debate within the communities they represent. According to some of the recipients of the food stamps, everything from prejudice to open hostility is exhibited against them by their neighbors, friends and relatives. Needs are a source of constant debate The philosophy of one USC student, waiting to be re-certified, was stated matter-of-factly: "Well, I look at it like this. When you are in need of these stamps and have been a tax-payer for as long as I have, this is the only way to get some of that money back from Uncle Sam. That is our money those guys up there in Washington are spending so freely and giving to every Tom, Dick and Harry in the rest of the world. ..we might as well be getting some of it.'' Many MODERN SC ULPTUL USC Student Sho Russell House Art Gallery Starts Sunday 8am University Union Arts Comm np Center i discontent, around the Ridgewood Food Stamp Center agree. Not all Ridgewood frequenters are so philosophical. There is resignation in their eyes and voice, the same often seen in the eyes of the people of a socialistic bureaucracy. They no longer fight the system but are content to take what is offered. Religion is a favorite conversation piece among whites and blacks here. Little groups gather under the trees, waiting for their turn, or just waiting for the bus to take them home again. While they wait, they talk about God...and food stamps. One USC student said that prejudice was perhaps the worst thing encountered from the c l. Classified PO.ll(Y: Cost: five <5) cents per word. lease. do Minimum: t0 words. There will be no charge oyge i , . lost aind found or tobs, available ads- :3 .m I-i j WNTE). or afol dace. Volunteer I WNE:Pariipants fraokdnc- for The C Russell House patio. Thursday and Sndyu Monday. 8-t0 p.m. Refreshments, Sndmw o Uiniversit y Union and YOU.nubr0 GRADUATE STUDENT in English needs ext. 5200. rolommate and-or apartment: Charles JOB OFFF Carmichael. P. 0. Box 324, Clinton. Ten- b)abysilling. ne*ss.(* 37716 or call 615-457-9554. 77-6.48 PART-TIME WORK! National Health RtEWARDI: Agency. $1.60 per hour. Call Randy Mc. mniomatior Pherson. 779-4878, or come b)y 523 Harden ut ai MON Street in Five Points. (CAI.'IJ.A'l FOR SALE - I VW Camper Tent, 1 Coleman (luesut,ns - Cook Stove, both less than one year ol Call tA 'O 77-3888i for more intormation. IAPO WANTED: Reliable person to care for infant (Pt atd ltve dlays per week 9-5 to start approximately aroae Oct. I. Student's wife with child or person Pr~% i with refe'rence perferred. Call 254-1255 after . I Sp.m Mondlay through Friday. WANTED: Part-time workers as phone -TYPING. Il ..uiliciiirs- Salary plus commission. Apply papesrs. Exf t*N4 N Trenholm Rd.. Building J1. Suite 2 W'ANT'E: ) (mutertt' Science major to run TYP'ING pro' iriis on puhliutal n)oll and mne-k ('let- i'en..ii. vorld o wai ed and resig community as a whole. She said that most people do not know or care about an in dividual's financial difficulties, yet condemn all those on food stamps as "lazy bums." Lack of proper information concerning the food stamp program was a reason given for most of the prejudice, she said. "When I rode the bus down to Ridgewood," a student said, "the bus driver was sounding off all the way about people on food stamps. Somehow he had the idea you don't have to work if you are on them. When I got to see a case worker, she.said that same bus driver was probably eligible for the food stamps. He would have been on them too if he had known he could get them." It was the opinion of this same student that the low wages paid a large percentage of South Carolinians would place most of them on the food stamp program if the information was made available to the public. Lack of proper information reason for prejudice J. W. Douglas, postmaster for Columbia, said the five postal centers authorized to sell the stamps had made 4,980 transactions since the program began. Wh-en asked about the added load on the Post Offices, he replied that it was "convenient for purchasers." He said that it did involve a "certain amount of red tape" but that the post office received "some revenue" for handling the stamps. Food stamp participation for the month of April 1972, was heavy, including 355,103 persons in 91,594 households. The cash paid by par ticipants amounted to $2,246,785.50 for the same month. The food stamp coupons amounted in value to $6,290,926.50, according to the South Carolina Department of Public Welfare figures for April. Many individuals participating in the food stamp program have stated that the circulation of the stamps, from the actual processing of the applications to the redemption of the stamps by Sthe retailer and the return to the federal government help the economy while providing Others, particularly non-participants, say too noarnguds articles to us). PI tOURS: Mon. -ri. 9-13 a.m., 2 RUCIBI,E Literary Magazine. name, address, and telephone 'ampus, P. 0. Box 5137, or callG ld R: One student, female, for 3-It p.m.. 3 days a week. CallC f e 550.00 to the linder of. or for leadIing, direcily to, ihe recovery 'tOE MOD)EI POCKET-SIZED 'OtR. F.'actory serial D-028-191. No A G S call 254-3488. lROO( KS (founded N. Y., 1946>. Radr( history. einema -TV, S. ('arolina mnd general. Prints. Ip.lt .Rx76. Newberry. S. Unvrit-no aeses dtissera tions and various erienced. Mrs. .Stokes, 782-0347. f itI. T YPES. electric typewriter.