I have been listening to all sorts of Republican congressmen and women pontificating about waste, fraud and abuse as justification for their attempt to pass a bill that will cut back food stamps 40 billion dollars over the next ten years is in the proposed bill. The cuts amount to 5% per year. So far, I haven’t exactly heard what this waste, fraud and abuse really is. Before September 5th I was curious. After September 5, I think I need to demand to know the answer.
On September 5, we got a phone call informing us that my husband’s son Chris who had been a missing person for many years was dead in the Bronx, New York. He was 46 years old. He had lived in the San Francisco area for many years with his mother and his adopted father and despite some learning disabilities he had graduated from college. Somewhere along the line college loans and the associated bill collectors hassled Chris until he vanished. Despite the fact the California parents were no longer married the California dad looked all over for him and posted flyers over half of San Francisco. He contacted us and we had not seen him. His brother had no idea where he was. I think we all assumed he was still in California, maybe off living as Grizzly Adams in the Sierra Nevadas.
How does a person go from middle class and college to being found dead in section 8 housing, cause of death starvation? We are trying to still figure that all out. I tracked down neighbors through the medical examiner’s office and found out that he had been placed in that apartment project by some agency (still to be determined) and was on food stamps and had a benefits card.
