Dear American Tax Payer: I am grateful for the meals you provide. Thank you.
Ah, hello there reader. I was hoping you would stop by. I wanted to thank you for my dinner last night. You didn't know you kept me from going hungry, did you? Well, you did.
You see, I'm a North Carolina Food and Nutritions Benefits recipient. Read Foodstamps. I depend on Foodstamps to get by. If it were not for that I would have literally nothing to eat.
You might say "Don't you mean dear 'government'?" No. I don't The Government set up the Food and Nutrition Benefits through the Department of Social Services. But it's taxpayer money that funds it. As far as I no no politician spends a single dime of his or her own private money to fund EBT benefits. (If you happen to know impirically that one of them does I urge you not to hesitate to post a link so I can post a thread thanking him or her as well.)
I'm very serious about my gratitude to those who pay their taxes and provide me with meals. This is not a joke or some tongue in cheek slight. Were it not for you ladies and gentlemen I would practically starve as would untold other Americans who are out of work or do not have enough work, or can't pay for enough food for themselves or their dependents.
I know paying taxes is a bitter pill to swallow. And I know in this country the taxpayer has little to no control over where their tax dollars go. But if it were up to me and I had the say over the little bit of taxes I pay, being unemployed, go- I'd put most of it into programs like the EBT program.
Some people reading this might be cynical enough to call people like myself that live off the public purse leechers or parasites. I'm not saying that in some cases people are not receiving public benefits who shouldn't be. It was the same with the food bundles that my church used to give out every Wednesday, which I participated in. Many of the people getting those bundles had plenty to eat. Many more did NOT. In most cases people like myself receiving public food and nutrition benefits aren't looking for a handout, just a hand up. The real parasites are the ones on Wall Street who make it necessary for American Tax dollars to feed the unemployed. Their destructive and self serving financial and economic policies have led to declines in employments for years now.
So I say to you, Sir or Madam Tax Payer: Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I appreciate the fact that because of your sacrifice, I have a little to eat each month. Please don't be uptset at myself and those like us. We're trying. In the meantime we thank you. In fact, reader-if you benefit from Foodstamps or another public service provided by the taxpayer purse and you want to express your gratitude please leave a reply with a thumbs up emote in it so everyone who reads this can see that you're grateful as I am.
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You are right- there are those that take advantage of the system. And you know what? I.Don't.Care. That money is there for those that need it. There are always going to be those who work the system, but in the long run it doesn't matter because of the good it will do for those in true need.
I'd much rather feed EBT recipients than subsidize industry.
the greater point here is that "government" is not some obscure boogeyman... our United States government is our collective will and actions as we direct them.
I have never for a second thought anything other than that my taxes go to benefit(?) the whole. I do not agree with many of the programs that my tax money goes to but there are many that I am very supportive of. This is what community is about: give and take, cooperation and sometimes sacrifice and sometimes needed assistance.
I have been both on the receiving end, and the giving end, of our government programs. I don't believe the people of DU are the citizens deriding the use of food stamps. ...my complaint is that many people don't truly understand what transfer payments and other assistance programs do for our money system as a whole... just imagine what would happen to both local and chain grocery stores if no one had foodstamps to buy food anymore???? I would suggest that many businesses (including farmers) would suffer greatly. The same with Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid and others...
GS2680... enjoy your meal tonight and no need to thank me or anyone else... just pass it on by giving someone you pass a big smile! 
of God go I." So many people need a helping hand, so many of us would like more of the taxes we pay to go to help those in need rather than on weapons.
You have my Father's blessing! Inherit
the kingdom prepared for you. For
I was hungry and you gave me food;
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink;
I was a stranger and you welcomed me;
I was naked and you clothed me;
I was ill and you comforted me;
I was in prison and you came to visit me."
Then the just will ask Him,
"Lord, when did we do such things to you?"
And the Son of Man will answer them:
"I assure you, as often you did any of these things
for the least of your brothers, you did it for me."
(Matthew 25:31-46)
I hope this state of affairs doesn't last long... I know that losing your job really sucks, but from everything I've been reading lately, the job market is looking better and better. I wish you tons of good luck!
grateful, that is, to all of you who've responded with such kind words
to GS2680 and therefore, to me as well, since I, too, use food stamps.
I have heard stories that when some people have had shameful experiences using their Bridge card - the debit card used for food assistance in Michigan. By shameful, I don't mean that they have a card to use. I mean shameful in the sense that other shoppers or even the cashiers judge them for having a card and critique their purchases, as though it were anybody else's business.
I've never felt that way. I always felt good, in a sense, when I see one of those cards taken from a wallet. Not good because someone needs the help, but good that the help is there, and good that I contributed to it. I suppose I feel privileged to see something good I contributed to in action. I'm glad the help is there. I want people to use it.
I never had to think about food assistance in any other way than this until last year, when I was laid off from my job and had to apply for help myself. I got it - a whole $16 a month, which I lost because the state then asked me to prove I didn't have $5,000 holed away in a bank account, and to do that would have cost me $50 in bank fees, the cost of faxing documents and gasoline - and I only had $100 in my bank account to last the week. But those $16, when I had them, were the most valuable $16 I ever had.
I was lucky enough to find a job after six months, and luckier still that my new job lets me join the fight to restore and improve assistance to people who need it.
I don't need food assistance anymore, but I've held on to my Bridge card, and I keep it in my wallet in a prominent position in my wallet. When I go to pay for groceries, there it is, in plain view with all its peachy orangeness. Why do I keep that? Party, to remind myself what it was like to rely on one of them to survive, and so that I never forget that feeling which is shared by so many around me who are still in that position. But also, I suppose, I'm hoping someone sees and comments on it, so I can tell them exactly what it was like to be so desperate, and how very much I relied on that help, and just how important it is that the program is there for our neighbors in need.
Like PayPal always offers "do you want to donate to..." and you can
choose $1 or more, for whatever cause they're highlighting that day.
At grocery stores they have a screen that asks the same type of thing -- would you like to donate to.....
That's another place where we could utilize that, although I don't know how much hassle it would be to have the recipient be the government.
But wow, you've suggested something that is SO do-able! Contact Obama -- NOW! 
