Challenges in accessing services

To the Editor:

There have been a couple of Letters to the Editor in the last two weeks which have caught my attention. The first letter was from Faith Gittings on April 21, 2011, and the second letter was from Tom Hurd, dated April 28, 2011, which responded to Ms. Gittings' initial letter.

Ms. Gittings' letter described some of the challenges she had experienced in accessing local services such as the food bank, and LIHEAP (Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program). Mr. Hurd wrote an extremely thoughtful letter in response the following week which suggested that welfare recipients (and presumably recipients of other social services and benefits such as food stamps or LIHEAP) volunteer at some of these service organizations, which may help them to be open more hours in order to be more available to the clients which they are designed to serve. I also found it interesting that WIC recipients were no longer allowed to get whole milk due to the higher fat content than other varieties of milk. I personally feel that it is a slippery slope for government to mandate peoples’ food choices, whether or not they use forms of aid to get it.

As a former welfare recipient, I can also commiserate with snafus and glitches in service delivery. When your gasoline is limited, it makes every mile and every minute of every day count, and when you are counting on getting food for your family, it can be extremely frustrating to be unable to get it when you are right outside the door of the business that offers it. It also sometimes seems that the rules are skewed in the favor of businesses over individuals…banks hold on to checks to “clear” for exorbitant amounts of time, when people may really need their money immediately. Mistakes are made in record keeping, and computer accounts with crucial information may at times be inaccessible. It would be very frustrating for me to run out of oil to heat my home while the oil company knew that I had credit for it, albeit in the “incorrect” account.

From my experience, I can only say I would try not to take these personally. These kinds of glitches happen in every area of life, and regardless of one’s income. I have worked in automobile dealerships, clothes shops and fine dining establishments, and when people come into a business right before close, they are not always received in the most helpful and welcoming manner. Mr. Hurd brought up an interesting suggestion, that “welfare would be a better system if those receiving it had to do volunteer work to get it.” I wanted to clarify that, as part of the agreement to access welfare services, recipients are already required to complete a combination of work, school, and volunteering every week, in order to receive any benefits.

Kudos to Faith for going back to school. Regard these challenges as learning experiences. These trials will give you knowledge and strength that will help you to be a stronger person and mother, and they will give you insight and empathy that will make you more understanding of other people’s problems. Speaking from experience, it is very challenging to be a single Mom and to have to navigate the confusing path of social services in order to reach your vocational, financial and educational goals, but it is possible and very rewarding … nothing worthwhile is easy.

Shannon L. Moxcey

BS Mental Health and Human Services; MS Adult Education