It won't be easy, but it needs to be "personal". It's easy to sit in a chair and write checks for people with other people's money with no accountability for where it's going. It takes stewardship to make responsible decisions with regards to other people's money - something that is long forgotten in Washington. Someone actually needs to meet with these individuals on a regular basis to make sure their situation is legit. Not just on an appointment basis where the person can "dress the part" and look poor for a day. Those individuals should be empowered to make informed decisions about the individual case. Continued food stamp allotments need to coincide with continued work search efforts. If the person is incapable of working, the social worker should know first hand why they are incapable of work, not just a rubber stamp on a page. The flip side should be true, too.... these social workers should also be empowered to spot areas where someone has a legitimate need that is not being met through their current program and assist there as well.
They need to be able to ask questions and if they aren't satisfied with the answers, they should be able to reject the applicant. I can't count the number of times someone came into our church seeking assistance from our Benevolent Fund reeking of cigarette smoke, but writing on their form that they have no income, but $500 a month food stamps. Last I knew, you can't buy smokes with food stamps, so the money is coming from somewhere. I was happy to be able to help legitimate requests from it, but weeding through the illegitimate ones definitely made me very jaded.
