The Sequestration is Very Real to Me

The sequestration is very real to me, My Dear Readers. The first part of this year I started the application process @ Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for housing assistance. Now, due to the sequester my application is in ‘limbo’. HUD is not processing applications due to the lack of funds for CURRENTLY approved individuals and families. So, here is Dan working hard to get himself out of this building without handicap access and with undrinkable brown water (not to mention the homeless people using the back of the building for a bathroom) and just when it is MY turn... Congressional intransigence cuts my feet off.

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I ran the Indiegogo campaign to raise awareness of my predicament, but I failed to convince enough people to assist me in reaching my goal. However, I got up, brushed my ego off and headed to HUD. Now, after three months of waiting, and tons of paperwork and two visits to Santa Ana I am back at square one. Not a problem I will wait until the Congress finally deals with sequestration and then I will return to HUD, papers in hand, ready to start the process all over again. I may get knocked down, but so long as I am physically able I WILL get back up!

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Now not to add insult to injury I have one last little story to share about the sequestration. I applied for ‘Meals on Wheels’ last month. Yesterday I get a call from them, my heart stopped when I got the voice mail, and I immediately called back to Meals On Wheels. Holy cow! Not again!?! Evidently the Federal funds that supports meals on wheels (a program that provides FOOD to elderly shut-ins and disabled Americans that cannot prepare food for themselves on a regular basis) have been cut to the bone! Something like 19 MILLION Americans have been cut from the program so far this year. (source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/29/meals-on-wheels-sequestration_n_3165256.html ) NINETEEN MILLION elderly and disabled Americans WITHOUT FOOD. So, I will work to find a way to get (once again) to Santa Ana and apply for Food Stamps. I am not sure I qualify.... I am not sure that this sequestration has not CUT Food Stamps, too! However, a diet of frozen burritos and Ramen noodles is not good for my health or my condition.

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So, I am one of 19 million and that does take the sting out some. However, platitudes and empathy do not keep my hunger away. In the past two months I have lost over 18 pounds. Not because I want to loose weight, but because I just cannot afford to eat on a regular basis or in a healthy fashion. I would not mind sitting in line to apply again, and if/when this problem is resolved I will be applying @ Meals On Wheels again. Right now I am working to get the money and my caregiver together at the same time so I can… go apply for Food Stamps.

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Grouse! You have NO idea how it makes me feel to have to go and ask for 'food stamps.' It is the ultimate in humiliation for me… but I am going to get there as soon as I can. Now, I would like to apologize for… grousing. I do not like to complain and even less do I enjoy airing my woes and shortcomings in public but this is something that needs to be done! My Dear Readers, NOW you have a face to put with this noun (sequester) you hear all the time in the news. Now there is a face to sequestration… mine.

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There are nineteen million stories, out there, just like mine. Nineteen MILLION Americans that worked all their lives hard to pay bills and make ends meet. Now, for medical reasons or that of age, they cannot get out and make the money. That IS what the programs were for, the reason they were created, to help the least advantaged of us all. Now these programs are being gutted to make life easier for the wealthy. Aye, there’s the rub.

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Congressional Republicans have, time and again, pushed this nation to “tighten the purse strings” only to pass these savings NOT to paying down the debt or balancing the budget. No, these funds are channeled to the top 10% of the population. See those Americans can afford to spend money on Congressional campaigns so they have a voice in the House of Representatives. But the poor, the disabled and veterans have no voice. This is the face of sequestration.

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Now, My Dear Readers, when someone at work or a friend asks you “What is sequestration?” you can help them put a face on this abstract idea.

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Thank you for dropping by… And, as always…

ENJOY!