I've been on food stamps. It helped me through a rough period after I got
my M.S., between temp work and full-time employment.
We can't generalize about recipients of public assistance. I suspect that
many or most have good personal reasons for needing aid, and I know that
their personal stories are tied into the structural issues Patricia
mentioned.
In addition, they are all part of that much-discussed "community." They fit
into agriculture and the food system somehow already, and I think we need
to keep them in mind as we dream up our future sustainable systems.
Besides, I've seen scammers in the university as well as on AFDC. The ones
in the university probably cost the taxpayers more.
-Bill