A class-action lawsuit filed in the 1990s and settled in 2006 charged that thousands of people were illegally denied food stamps after they moved to receive Social Security disability payments instead of welfare benefits. Roughly $12 million in awards being distributed to nearly 9,500 households in the five boroughs in the form of credits to electronic benefit cards.
"Monica Ryan learned of her good fortune when she went to her corner bodega in northern Manhattan to buy bread and milk. She was picking up just the necessities because she was conscious of having less than $5 in her account. But when the clerk swiped her card, it appeared that she had hundreds left. At first, Ms. Ryan, who says that she has been barely getting by with a monthly benefit of $107, thought it was impossible. In shock, she called the automated food stamp line, which confirmed that $888 had just been placed in her account. “I didn’t believe it,” she said. “They make so many mistakes.” It was not until days later, when a government letter arrived confirming that the money was part of the settlement, that she finally relaxed and went out and bought a steak. “It was so delicious,” she said. Now she is planning on buying a turkey to share with her son, something she had not done in two years because, she said, “it takes half the monthly allowance to buy the groceries for that one meal.”
Happy Thanksgiving!
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*NY Times, 11/27/08, "A surprise bounty from a food stamp lawsuit," http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/27/nyregion/27stamps.html?th&emc=th
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