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Rhode Island town relies on food stamps In Woonsocket, R.I., a third of the residents use SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, to pay for groceries. That means the businesses in the struggling town also rely on the program to survive.
Jourie Ortiz gets a hug from his wife, Rebecka, after he was woozy and hardly able to stand after 48 hours with only about five hours of sleep. He works an overnight shift at a supermarket and then comes home to be with his family, getting less than three hours of sleep on many days. They have two children and a combined monthly income of $1,700. They also rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps.
Michael S. Williamson
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The Washington Post
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Rebecka Ortiz, 21, had hoped to take a quick nap before her husband left for work, but her daughter Sariah, 3, wanted her to read a book. By the end of the month, when the food has begun to run out and they await the deposit of their SNAP money on the 1st, Rebecka often has to make a dish she refers to in front of the kids as "rice-a-roni," even though she and Jourie call it "rice-a-whatever."
Michael S. Williamson
/
The Washington Post
Rebecka Ortiz offers Sariah a free sample of pasta while she was using her food stamp money to stock up on groceries. On the first of every month, Woonsocket, R.I., experiences its monthly financial windfall — nearly $2 million from SNAP. Federal money is electronically transferred to the broke residents of the nearly bankrupt town, where it flows first into grocery stores and then on to food companies, employees and banks, beginning the monthly cycle that has helped Woonsocket survive.
Michael S. Williamson
/
The Washington Post
Jourie Ortiz hauls their groceries to the family's apartment. "I couldn't get it all," Rebecka told Jourie, explaining that she had made it only halfway through her list. She had spent about two weeks of SNAP money on groceries that would last seven or eight days.
Michael S. Williamson
/
The Washington Post
Rebecka Ortiz puts away their groceries as Sariah grabs some juice drinks that her mother had just put away. Rebecka read that the average monthly SNAP benefit lasts a family 17 days, and she knows from personal experience the anxiety headaches that come at the end of every month, when their SNAP money runs out, their bank account is empty and she is left to ply Woonsocket's emergency food pantries.
Michael S. Williamson
/
The Washington Post
Jaeliece Ortiz, 1, has some fruit juice. Shopping with both her children can be an ordeal for Rebecka, with the crowds that appear on the first of the month, the girls' tantrums and their inclination to grab things off the shelves.
Michael S. Williamson
/
The Washington Post
The Ortizes are stocked up on food after the first of the month when SNAP money was delivered to their EBT card. Rebecka and Jourie have been living together since Rebecka became pregnant during their senior year of high school. Jourie lost his job at a pharmacy late in 2010 because of downsizing, and Rebecka lost hers in fast food for the same reason soon after. In late 2012, they were both hired for the only work high school graduates were finding in a low-wage recovery: part time at a supermarket.
Michael S. Williamson
/
The Washington Post
Rebecka Ortiz kisses her daughter Sariah, 3, after they had put away all of the groceries. It's a struggle to make the money and food last all month long. They usually run out of milk first, after about three weeks. Then juice, fresh produce, cereal, meat and eggs.
Michael S. Williamson
/
The Washington Post
Jourie Ortiz struggles to lift his daughters, Sariah and Jaeliece, because he was still sore from stacking large bags of food all night at his job at a nearby grocery store.
Michael S. Williamson
/
The Washington Post
Jourie Ortiz has to walk about half a mile each night to his job stocking food overnight for a supermarket. As he walks, he passes four stores with signs advertising that they accept SNAP.
Michael S. Williamson
/
The Washington Post
International Meat Market gets very busy on the first of the month when those who get SNAP money come in to shop. By noon on March 1, the store had already sold more than $5,000, with $4,700 paid for in SNAP money.
Michael S. Williamson
/
The Washington Post
Juan Cardez loads meat onto a handcart during a delivery to International Meat Market. The store buys huge quantities of meat in anticipation of the start of the month. Every store has a gimmick for the 1st, and this store's is meat packs, which account for most of the sales. The idea is to sell merchandise in bulk when customers are hungry and most likely to splurge, hours after the government has deposited an average benefit payment of $265 onto their EBT cards.
Michael S. Williamson
/
The Washington Post
The International Meat Market caters to those in SNAP. The federal program that began as a last resort for a few million hungry people has grown into an economic lifeline for entire towns. Spending on SNAP has doubled in the past four years and tripled in the past decade, surpassing $78 billion last year. A record 47 million Americans receive the benefit — including 13,752 in Woonsocket, one-third of the town's population.
Michael S. Williamson
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The Washington Post
Michael Henriquez is the butcher at International Meat Market. This is his price list to quote to customers at the meat counter. Before the 1st of the month, the store ordered 150 pounds of the tenderloin steak favored by the newly poor, still clinging to old habits, and 200 cases of chicken gizzards for the inter-generationally poor, savvy enough to spot a deal at less than $2 a pound.
Michael S. Williamson
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The Washington Post
Jose Rivera takes a smoke break as he waits for a just-arrived shipment of food to be unloaded before he sorts and places items on the store shelves at the International Meat Market. He gets part-time work at the beginning of the month at the store when it's very busy with customers spending SNAP money.
Michael S. Williamson
/
The Washington Post
Amanda Aubin and Cody Allison carry $70 worth of groceries to their apartment about half a mile away. They had money left over on their EBT card, but this was all that they could carry on foot. Some of the items purchased were for their 4-year-old daughter, who was having a birthday party the next day.
Michael S. Williamson
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The Washington Post
William Bobola, 75, was among scores of Woonsocket residents that waited in line to get a bag of food at Bryan's Food Pantry in the basement of St. Charles Church. He's living on a fixed income and receives SNAP money, but it was the last day of the month and he, like many others, had run out of many items. He was getting food for himself and his 36-year-old disabled daughter who lives with him.
Michael S. Williamson
/
The Washington Post
Alan Schram reaches for food items from his wheelchair at a Woonsocket food pantry. He's a former truck driver and receives SNAP money, but the pantries in town are always busy at the end of the month when cupboards and refrigerators become bare.
Michael S. Williamson
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The Washington Post
Minimum-wage employees at a pizza shop work in downtown Woonsocket, which is reflected in the window. Of the few jobs still available in town, many are part-time positions at grocery stores, with hours clustered around the first of the month.
Michael S. Williamson
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The Washington Post
Low-income housing has replaced what once was the Glenark textile mill (built in 1865 and long closed) in Woonsocket. The town has struggled for years. The local unemployment rate is 12 percent, and the median income had dropped by $10,000 in the last decade.
Michael S. Williamson
/
The Washington Post
A fire station in Woonsocket closed in 2009 as budget difficulties for the city created the need for austerity. The city is a designated "distressed" municipality.
Michael S. Williamson
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The Washington Post
Displays honoring mill workers can be seen at the Woonsocket Museum of Work and Culture downtown. The museum is on the site of a former textile mill. Almost all of the mills that made the city once thrive are no longer in business.
Michael S. Williamson
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The Washington Post
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