What you didn't know about SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program)

When thinking about a topic to write for my MCOM 441 class I was looking across government site and one subject that I was curious about was the food stamp or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) program.

There are many stereotypes that many people think about people who are on SNAP. Before doing my research I thought only poor people who were lazy and couldn’t get a job was the stereotype of SNAP recipients. Even though I knew people who were on the program. I was ignorant to how low income families lived and that they needed SNAP to get by.

For 30 years, SNAP has helped low-income families buy food. Over 100,000 households depend on SNAP in South Carolina each month for assistance to buy food. SNAP is based on the household’s total monthly income and expenses.

Those who get on SNAP are families, people living alone, and people living with roommates use SNAP benefits. The homeless also can apply for SNAP benefits. This meaning that you could be having a steady income but don’t have enough to put food on the table.

The SNAP program is not for those who are “lazy”. Starting April 1, there has been a change in policy for those who are unemployed and are on SNAP. Those who Are Able-bodied  Adults without Dependents or ABAWD can only get SNAP for three months in three years if they don’t meet certain work requirements.

An Able-Bodied Adult Without Dependents are persons between the age of 18 to 49 who have no dependents and are not disabled.

Basically if you are living by yourself without any kids (dependents) and you don’t have a job, you need to start looking for one ASAP because after 3 months your account will be canceled.

An ABAWD must work no less than 80 hours for every month, take an interest in a qualifying training and training exercises no less than 80 hours for each month, or a workfare program. Workfare implies that ABAWDs can do unpaid work through an extraordinary State-endorsed program. For workfare, the measure of time worked relies on upon the measure of advantages received every month. Another way to satisfy the ABAWD work necessity is through a SNAP Employment and Training Program.

So what does all that mean? It means that each month and ABAWD has to work, get training, or be apart of a work force program for 80 hours. Then wondered if DSS just leave ABAWDs out for dry. Just saying get a job or find something that qualifies you to keep your benefits.

They don’t! I spoke to Glenda McNeal who works for the Rock Hill DSS who said starting in March until the end of February letters went out about the new changes and possible ways ABAWDs a could keep their benefits. They can call their case manager to see how they can get help.

There is a program that helps SNAP recipients called the SNAP Education and Training program which includes the SNAP2Work Program that gives Federal funding to providers of employment and training services to SNAP participants through a “third-party reimbursement” model, where the other State agencies, non-profit organizations, foundations and others put up funding for the necessary and reasonable costs of an employment and training component, and DSS uses that funding to leverage 50% Federal reimbursement to help pay for partner services. A provider like York Technical College in Rock Hill, SC.

“Once an individual is receiving food stamp and no other assistance through DSS they become eligible to the Snap to Work program and as a part of that program one of the pieces is that there is an intake procedure that validates their eligibility.” said Sonia Young, Program Manager for Workforce Development and Corporate Training at York Technical College in Rock Hill, SC.

So….about that stereotype. I was wrong to think that SNAP recipients are just people who don’t want a job. They work hard to try to make ends meet and just need a little help.

I have to stay awake: College students and driving drowsy

Waking up at 5:30 in the morning to grab a cup of coffee and a quick breakfast is what Jenniscia Whitfield’s morning routine. She is a Winthrop University student that works off campus in her hometown. Holiday season is the hardest time when traveling to work for Jenniscia. Driving two hours from Rock Hill to Cheraw to open up the store at seven in the morning and working past closing time to do inventory for the next day. Not leaving the store until midnight to drive back to Rock Hill just to wake up again to commute back to work.

Many college students like Jenniscia have received a job before they started college and want to maintain that connection during the semester. They sacrifice their time and sleep to complete assignments for class and try to keep their jobs.

Waking up early and sleeping late can cause people to drive drowsy. Jenniscia is being careful not to be another victim of driving drowsy which she knows the consequences too well. Getting the right amount of sleep is crucial for college students to be alert in class and for those who commute back and forth to school.

It is more likely for adults between the ages of 18 to 29 to drive while drowsy. Many students stay up late hours to finish assignments for classes are in risk  of having a sleep-related crash. The less sleep you get the greater the risk of falling asleep at the wheel.

Driving drowsy can equate to to having a crash associated with those who drink under the influence of alcohol. A milion such crashes are reported annually that are from drowsy driving.

Winthrop University’s Assistant Chief of Police Ken Scoggins says he stops students at all times of night but only stop a few students over the semester for driving drowsy.

“I stopped a guy in the middle of the intersections and told him to call a friend and get a ride.” says  Assistant Chief of Police Ken Scoggins.

In South Carolina, there is no specific law that officers can convict a person who is driving drowsy. Currently there are a few states that have a driving drowsy law such as Arkansas that has “Classifies “fatigued driving” offense under negligent homicide- punishable by a class A misdemeanor- when the driver involved in a fatal accident has been without sleep for 24 consecutive hours or is the a state of sleep after being without sleep for 24 consecutive hours.”

Arkansas law only convicts them if their was a crime caused due to them driving drowsy but Utah just states they will begin installing road signs that warn against drowsy driving and provide information on where drivers can pull over to rest.

Though South Carolina does not have a distinctive law for driving drowsy it is hard for states to actually convict someone of driving drowsy because it is done often by human beings.

“If they break a law while they are driving drowsy it is their fault if they drive off the right side of the road even if they are not under the influence.”says  Assistant Chief of Police Ken Scoggins.

A study of sleep patterns of college students in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research identifies the difference sleeping patterns between the weekends and the weekdays. Students woke up later had longer time in bed and sleep time on the weekends. During the week students had shorter time to get accurate sleep from going to sleep at later times than on weekends.

Different techiques are used to stay awake while driving but it might not always work.

“To wake up,  I blast my music, nothing boring, and stop by McDonald’s to get something with caffeine in it. I also tap my legs and have to keep my body engaged to stay awake.” says Jenniscia.

“About 42% of nearly 2,000 motorists surveyed they say open a window or sunroof to stay awake while driving; 35% say they pull over to exercise or stretch; 35% listen to loud music; and 25% turn up the air conditioning stated in an article in USA today.

"Drowsy driving is the culprit behind more than 100,000 U.S. accidents each year, and 16.5% of deadly ones," says Mike Martinez, DMEautomotive's chief marketing officer.

“My cousin worked third shifts at his job which made him very tired” says Jenniscia.

One night after a long day at work, Jennicia’s cousin was driving home from work. Her cousin worked the third shift at his job. The late nights with trying to sleep during the day and working late nights really took a toll on his sleeping patterns. One late night, after working a long third shift, he fell asleep at the wheel and tragically ran off a bridge. He died on the scene.

Journal of Safety Research." Fatigued and Drowsy Driving: A Survey of Attitudes, Opinions and Behaviors says sleep-related crashes are more likely to:

• occur at night or in mid afternoon, when people have a natural propensity to sleep;
• involve a single vehicle running off the roadway, or rear-end and head-on collisions;
• occur on higher-speed roadways;
• involve only the driver as occupant, who is young and male; and,result in serious injuries.

According to the National Sleep Foundation’s 2005 Sleep in America poll, 60% of adult drivers – about 168 million people – say they have driven a vehicle while feeling drowsy in the past year, and more than one-third, (37% or 103 million people), have actually fallen asleep at the wheel! In fact, of those who have nodded off, 13% say they have done so at least once a month. Four percent – approximately eleven million drivers – admit they have had an accident or near accident because they dozed off or were too tired to drive.

Sleep education for college students may help awareness of their own sleep problems and willing to choose activity schedules and sleep habits good for sleep.

“The best way to fix this problem is to stop them before they hurt anybody.”says  Assistant Chief of Police Ken Scoggins.

No more coffee

“Coffee! I love coffee in the morning, and I still sneak it in there, but it’s not a part of the budget,” says Raven Wright, human nutrition graduate student.

During the week of January 22-28, Winthrop students are participating in the SNAP challenge. Only having $29.40 to spend on food and beverages for the whole challenge week. Keeping up with their blog and reading their triumphs and struggles, many of them start out their first day skipping that morning coffee run.

Lauren Cobb, human nutrition graduate student, started her morning eating oatmeal instead of her usual eggs and toast. Cobb writes on the blog, “I was concerned that oatmeal wouldn't fill me up as much as the eggs and toast but it did. The only thing I could not give up was my coffee! I woke up at 5 a.m. this morning to review some items before my 8 a.m. class and there's no way I would have been able to function without it.”

During the challenge all food items that are purchased from the grocery store, fast food, and dining on and off campus are subtracted from the weekly budget. “I definitely looked at coupons and deals that were going on in the area,” says Teresa Farina, human nutrition graduate student. “I looked at Publix’ BOGO items and if you get only one item that is buy one get one free, you can get it for half the price. It is a great way to save money.”

After a few days, students can’t go another day without their coffee fix. A blogger using the name Nutrition Whiz wrote, “Isn't coffee just flavored water? Spices that you already have at home don't count against the $29 food budget... Great loophole, right?! Okay, maybe not, but how can a student go without coffee??”

If students get just a regular coffee it would cost around $2 a cup. That would be $14 per week. That’s a big chunk of their budget.

Budgeting during the week challenged a lot of those who accepted the SNAP challenge.  Many have resorted to cooking food in their dorms or apartments rather than going to DiG's or Thomson.

“My advice would be to look at the deals going on at various grocery stores and shop according to those. Ideally, food stamps is not something that I want or would encourage someone to want. I would rather make enough money for a bigger food budget.” says Farina.

If you want to follow the students that have taken on the SNAP challenge you can go to their blog WinthropSNAPChallenge.blogspot.com. You can also add them on Facebook and Twitter at www.facebook.com/winthropsnapchallenge amd @WinthropSNAP.

I am Winthrop

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Reporter's Notebook

Reporter's Notebook

My first interview

My First Interview

Lead practice

City Beat

1.     A Chinese cuisine located on 480 Parkside was found with live mice and rodent dropping that led to the suspension of their license late yesterday.

2.     Colonial High School biology teacher fails student because she wouldn’t dissect worms, fogs, and fetal pig because of the student’s religious belief.

3.     Orthodontist in Rock Hill recently found out he has AIDs and shuts down his practice and sends letters to patients securing that he followed the CDC guidelines.

4.     “I could make better money stealing,” said Mark Johnson after his arrest saying he estimates that he broke into about 300 homes during the last 12 months.

5.     Passengers of a single engine aircraft were taken to the Regional Medical Center yesterday after it crashes at Rock Hill’s airport shortly after 4 p.m.

State Beat

1.     Legislation was proposed to the state senator today requiring newspapermen to sign the editorials they write so people know the writer’s identity.

2.     State Senator Karen Simmons proposed a ban on disposable diapers to the state senate saying “Without a ban disposable diapers will fill up landfills causing problems long after the babies have babies”.

3.     With an increase in women in jail, Richard Clair head of SC State Department of Corrections testifies that incarcerated women are not having the same opportunities than men to participate in programs that would better their lives.

4.     New law stiffens check bouncing penalties, sending them stern messages and liability to pay three times the face value of each bad check.

The body of a news story

1. Kalani Bros. Bakery Suspend 
• Health inspectors visited the Kalani Bros. Bakery the past few weeks and what they found was very disturbing.
• To protect the health of the public, the health officials temporarily suspended the Kalani Bros. Bakery because of the bad conditions of the bakery. They were asked several times to correct the health violations but each inspection they kept finding more problems.
2. More people, no money
• 12 county officials have looked into the matter of the rapidly growing county and the possibility of enforcing an “impact fee” for each time a new house is built in the area.
• For the past 3 months the county officials have tried to solve the growth problem that is affecting the county. With the growth of new residents moving in and houses being build, there has been a shortage of safety workers and a need for bigger sewer systems, jails, better roads, schools, and more teachers. 
3. No more junk food 
• State Legislature enacted a law that would affect all elementary, junior high, and high school vending machines to no longer serve foods with high sugar content.
• Vending machines in the local elementary, junior high, and high school’s will no longer be serving junk foods like candy bars, gum, and soda but juices, jerky, toasted soy beans and other products that don’t have a high sugar content.
4. Police officer saved by bullet proof vest
• With the help of a bullet proof vest, Thomas E. Richardson lives to spend time with his wife and two young children. 
• Responding to a call about a suspicious man loitering  behind a restaurant on 640 Aloma Avenue, officer Thomas E. Richardson steps out his patrol car and without warning the man shoots four shots toward him, two in which struck Richardson. He is alive today because he wore a bullet proof vest. By wearing the vest the bullets just knocked the air out of him.  
5. Project Reassurance
• The elderly need a lot of care and their children need assurance that their parents or grandparents are ok. With Project Reassurance it you will know that the elderly are being looked after with a plan to make sure they are doing alright.
• Dorothy Morvcheck, a clerk, and tow aides, wait by the phone between 7 and 9 am waiting for a phone call from those who are 65 and older or any person that lives alone over 55. If they do not call by 9:15 am they will dispatch the police to go check on them. This method have saved three lives, including the life of a woman who police officers found lying on the kitchen floor of her home after having suffered a heart attack. 
6. Stealing corneas

• An unusual lawsuit involving a deceased 31 year old's family and the illegal removal  of her cornea.
• A woman's family who died two years ago at age 31 had her corneas removed from her eyes. When her relatives learned of the action, they objected on the grounds of their religious beliefs. A Supreme court ruling on the case said, the state law violates a family's right to decide the disposition of a love ones remains.

 

Multimedia

Multimedia is great way to give out information.With video, animation, pictures and  other media, you can be intrigued by what the site wants to tell you just by clicking on the site.

The Washington post does this wonderfully with a piece called Refuge: 18 Stories from the Syrian Exodus. Once you click on the site you see an animation of people walking then the animation turns in to the picture that you see of one of one of the girls that was interviewed. I wanted to learn more about this young girl and why she seems sad.

If you click left or right you would see a story about a person struggling.

 Dania the girl in the picture was at her home in Syria when it got bombed. As she was left dangled and a cousin left without any legs, the rest of her family perished on the scene.

If you would click the top right corner you can hear her talking to another woman in her native language. There are also videos and pictures of her interview and where she was bombed. Scrolling down some more, you would see some more of the animated people giving an visual on how many people are Syrian refugees.

Writing Leads

1. 250 students stand in front your school this morning protesting the burning of an American flag held on campus grounds that happened last Friday by a Journalism Professor's class.
2. Controversy stirs your school's campus over the First Lady of the United States delivering the school's commencement address for the spring's graduating class. Students who are petitioning against this says, "...that woman should be honored for their achievements, not their husbands".
3. Coming into their Freshman year of college most are worried about the new life as a college student but a problem that some Freshman tend to focus on is the gaining of weight most know as the. " the Freshman 5," "the Freshman 10," "the Freshman 15" or even "the Freshman 20."
4. A heated, controversial debate has occurred at your school. A reporter for the school's student paper uncovered that some of the money from the school is being invested in tobacco companies. With the conflicting message to both the students and public the board of Regents plan to discuss the topic.
5. Medical researches conducted an unusual surveyed 1,044 women and learned that 1 in 10 had on abortion.
6. Five students of your school's Sigma Kappa Chi fraternity are being investigated for hazing which put two put two students in the hospital.