Finally food...

After Gustav our Parish offered disaster relief food stamps. Sarah and I did not qualify for food stamps before the hurricane because somehow I make to much (who knew). So even though I made enough to not get food stamps Sarah and I were still struggling to have food. We did not go hungry but our fridge and freezer were pretty bare (and the cats were looking pretty tasty). After Gustav we had to throw away everything in the bare fridge (we were out of power for 5 days, so the food had actually kind of cooked in the fridge then rotted). The disaster food stamps are meant to replenish the food you lost in the hurricane, but for us it will be a replenish of food we need.

In order to get the disaster food stamps you must appear in person for an “interview” along with all you financial documents, and legal paperwork. The only problem was the fact that each Parish only had one center open to serve that parish. So I found out the center for our parish opened at 6am. I decided to get there at 5am to be sure I was not stuck in the long lines that had plagued the centers the last few days. I arrived at the center at 4:58am and after driving around for about 20 minutes finally found some fellow line goers. Together we asked police, security guards and national guardsman where we needed to go to wait in line. I went the way I thought we were supposed to go and found myself down the barrel of a Guardsman’s M-16 who claimed I had just entered a secure area. After pleading my case to him he escorted me out like I was a POW, gun a few inches from my back. No harm no foul, but I did check my pantys to be sure I had not wet them. Nope..All good. Next I try going up this escalator…Up I went until I was welcomed by a booming voice again informing me I was in the sites of a gun and I needed to turn around. Time for another leader..I’m done. So after walking around for a while we finally found the right area and started a line on the side of the building. We waited and watched as the line behind us grew longer…oblivious to them was the struggle we had endured to find the place to start the line.

I was in and out in less than 30 minutes thanks to the hard work of the social workers who were working 50+ hour weeks…THANK YOU! But I’m glad my wife did not have to be one of you…Emma and I would miss her after all! Sarah and I are going to try to split the stamps into 3 months worth of groceries, and hopefully by then my delivery job will have picked up and be helping the budget.