This is just annoying and shitty. The food bank I use very often operates every other Thursday from 10 – 1. They posted on their facebook page that a few of the volunteers caught Covid, so they wouldn't be operating tomorrow. I reached out on my local buy nothing group about other food banks in the area I might not know about. Several people suggested a church based one that operates every Wednesday, I thought oh cool, might be a way to stretch my SNAP benefits further. My daughter's daycare is going to raise their rates on the 1st and I got an email yesterday that they were no longer providing food – now I have to provide my daughter with her own breakfast, lunch and two snacks. Plus every week, a parent will be responsible for their child's “class snack”. Never mind the fact I get $255 a month in SNAP benefits and that barely lasts me all month in addition with what I get from the food bank but that's another rant for another day.
Here's the fucked up thing: my manager asked if I wanted to come in for some extra hours today but I said no, I had other things to take care of. Kiddo was already in daycare so I went to this church food pantry. Saw their sign about the food bank, parked, walked up to a lady holding the intake form shit. She started asking me questions, my name, am I employed, do I have children, etc. Then she asks if I receive any government benefits like SNAP or WIC. I answer yes, I have no reason to lie. She frowns and put the clipboard down and says I am “ineligible” to receive donations from them as I “already get help from the government”
I suddenly felt embarrassed and asked if she was sure. Like hey I wouldn't be here if I didn't really need the help. I explained to her that the food bank I regularly go to isn't operating because of the volunteer members being out with Covid. She said she couldn't help me at all and just gave me a look like I was being greedy because god forbid I get help from the government and need extra help throughout the month.
I ended up walking away and thanking her for her time and her response was to say she'd “pray for me” and I was “welcome to join their worshipping service any time” and I just felt defeated. I don't need prayers or to go to a church service, I need help making sure my kid eats and I don't starve myself waiting for my next round of benefits. . I don't receive November's SNAP benefits until the 7th. I've used up all of October's. I don't have much in my fridge or in my cabinets. I've already spent my next paycheck on bills, and now I have to move money around to make sure we have groceries and I can provide my daughter with “daycare compliant” food. I don't know what I'm going to do. I wasn't expecting to get turned away from a different food bank today and I'm really hoping my regular food bank is back up and running next week since they weren't running this week. I lost out on making more money today that I really could have needed. Ugh