The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, August 03, 1972, Page Page 4, Image 5
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
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GRADUATE STUDENT in English needs ext. 5200.
rolommate and-or apartment: Charles JOB OFFF
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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.
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itI. T YPES. electric typewriter.