![]() He framed his first three $5s, his first three $20s and his first three $100s, the green bills lining a wall behind his register. He settled in Rhode Island with his brother, and together they opened a series of small supermarkets. ![]() The son of a grocer in the Dominican Republic, Pichardo had immigrated to the United States in the 1980s because he expected everyone to have money - “a country of customers,” he had thought. Pichardo’s profits from SNAP had also helped pay for International Meat Market itself, a 10-aisle store in a yellow building that he had bought and refurbished in 2010, when the rise in government spending persuaded him to expand out of a smaller market down the block. and the electric bills he paid to run that freezer, at nearly $2,000 each month. and the walk-in freezer he had installed to store surplus product. and the three part-time employees he had hired to unload it. Government money had in effect funded the truckloads of food at Pichardo’s dock. SNAP enrollment in Rhode Island had been rising for six years, up from 73,000 people to nearly 180,000, and now three-quarters of purchases at International Meat Market are paid for with Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards. Out came 230 pounds of ground beef and 180 gallons of orange juice. 28, as he watched new merchandise roll off the trucks. “Uncle Sam Day,” Pichardo said now, late on Feb. The 1st is always circled on the office calendar at International Meat Market, where customers refer to the day in the familiar slang of a holiday. The government is forced to support so many people. So many people are forced to rely on government support. View Graphic State residents who receive SNAP A record 47 million Americans receive the benefit - including 13,752 in Woonsocket, one-third of the town’s population, where the first of each month now reveals twin shortcomings of the U.S. Spending on SNAP has doubled in the past four years and tripled in the past decade, surpassing $78 billion last year. Three years into an economic recovery, this is the lasting scar of collapse: a federal program that began as a last resort for a few million hungry people has grown into an economic lifeline for entire towns. ![]() Federal money would be electronically transferred to the broke residents of a nearly bankrupt town, where it would flow first into grocery stores and then on to food companies, employees and banks, beginning the monthly cycle that has helped Woonsocket survive. “Tomorrow, we sell it all.”Īt precisely one second after midnight, on March 1, Woonsocket would experience its monthly financial windfall - nearly $2 million from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps. “Today, we fill the store up with everything,” he said. He wiped the front counter and smoothed the edges of a sign posted near his register. For most of the month, his business operated as a humble milk-and-eggs corner store, but now 3,000 pounds of product were scheduled for delivery in the next few hours. In the heart of downtown, Miguel Pichardo, 53, watched three trucks jockey for position at the loading dock of his family-run International Meat Market. The bus company was warning riders to anticipate “heavy traffic.” A community bank, soon to experience a surge in deposits, was rolling a message across its electronic marquee on the night of Feb. Delivery trucks were moving down river roads, and stores were extending their hours. – The economy of Woonsocket was about to stir to life. “Even with a lack of federal support, our state has the responsibility to step up and help our neighbors,” he added.WOONSOCKET, R.I. “With increasing food costs and supply chain issues, our working people, families and seniors can’t afford to see a reduction in their SNAP benefits.” “Across every city and town, we have a total of over 80,000 households in our state that depend on SNAP to access nutritious food and their daily groceries,” Morales said. David Morales is looking to extend those added benefits through the remainder of the year. The added federal benefits are set to expire on March 1, which means February’s allotment was the last boosted payment. The additional SNAP benefits were first given during the height of the pandemic, when recipients would receive a minimum of $95 to put toward their groceries on top of their monthly payment. (WPRI) - A Rhode Island lawmaker has introduced legislation to ensure that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients will continue to receive additional benefits.
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