Why does the state make welfare so easy to get? (Hilo: home, to buy)

[AJH2008]

Originally Posted by OpenD

Aloha,

You're brand new on the forum, you have no reputation here yet, and you want us to believe your "stir the pot" shady story that you waited two hours for a couple of strangers to get welfare benefits in Hilo?

I call B.S. on this. Please come back when you have something real to discuss.

Well they were not exactly strangers however it is true they applied, got approved and had a card with credit within two hours. I was sitting in the metered parking area beside the postoffice getting scrutinized by the security guard.

By the way do you have dibs or something on the forum or just dictate for lack of anything better to do?

[AJH2008]

Originally Posted by leilaniguy

Well, the crime rate would probably go up (desperate people do desperate things). Personally I don't pick up hitchers, it only encourages them.

Hitchhiking seems to be a mode of transportation for many. Bus schedules are unreliable. Gas is to expensive. Mostly we carry someone(s) from the Volcano area to Hilo or Kona for shopping. There are simply no good choices out that way for groceries. The little markets never have fresh veggies or fruits. Their processed foods are ridiculously high. The cafe wants stupid money for a simply sandwich and the farmers market opens to early for families with small children plus they sell out fast. We did discover you can walk onto the military camp from the main highway without paying national park fees to shop at the market there. Sometimes they have eggs, milk, or discounted can goods. I do think they are great to let locals make purchases & do laundry. The laundry by ACE is a rip off.

[AJH2008]

Originally Posted by suzy_q2010

I was agreeing with OpenD that the OP is bogus.

Respectfully as possible some people actually are living in the real world not by copy & paste on the internet. Bogus IMO are those who spend all day on city data and other sites trying to be a mini-celebrity by saying they live in Hawaii or do and never go off line to enjoy it.

You have a nice gang of five or six here that sure do like to patrol these forums huh?

[KaraBenNemsi]

Local hitchhikers rarely follow the unwritten hitchhiking etiquette--therefore I don't pick them up anymore. If you do, please lecture them:

- No incessant talking
- No quiet grumpiness
- Don't smell
- Don't reek of cigarettes or marijuana
- Don't have animals
- Don't have oversized luggage or surfboards
- Don't be more than two adults
- Don't carry drugs or contraband
- Don't be armed
- Don't bring small children/babies
- Don't expect me to make pit stops for your bowel movements
- Don't eat, smoke or drink in my car without permission
- Be polite; smile sometimes
- Basic grooming
- Stay off controversial topics or agree with driver
- Offer to pay a few bucks for gas
- Don't have fleas
- Say thank you & good bye after the ride

And now specifically for the Big Island:

- Don't be sweaty and half naked
- Have most teeth. In its original color.
- Wear something on your feet
- Only play a ukulele if you know how to
- Sing only when explicitly given permission
- Don't be over 200 lbs
- No sign needed when you look like Gandalf: It's Pahoa or HOVE
- Don't wear your reeking dreadlocks open
- If you ride in my truck bed, don't urinate there.
- Do not steal anything from my car
- Don't roll out your personal misery
- Don't use drugs in my car
- Don't try to sell me drugs or meds
- Do not ask for money, drugs, or meds
- Don't offer sex for drugs, meds, or money
- Don't expect me to wait in a parking lot while you apply for welfare

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by AJH2008

My question wasn't about participants abusing the system. What do you think of the system in place that qualifies individuals fresh off a jet foodstamps in the amount of over $300 a month with no requirements? Those I have met who have the card are specifically on the island vacationing or bumming around using the allotment instead of personal resources.

Your story was clearly bogus. Why are you pressing the point?

Originally Posted by AJH2008

This link does not specify what I posted originally about, foodstamps.
Now do you have an opinion on why the state makes qualifying easy.....for foodstamps?

The state doesn't, and clearly you don't know what you are talking about. It's no easier to qualify here than anywhere else in the country.

SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,) the correct name for the program, is funded by the Federal Government, which also establishes qualifications and guidelines. Each state administers the program for the residents of their state. The state of Hawai'i administers the program, for the benefit of Hawai'i residents. If people are vacationing in Hawai'i and they swear to being residents to get SNAP benefits they are guilty of fraud.

[AJH2008]

Originally Posted by KaraBenNemsi

Local hitchhikers rarely follow the unwritten hitchhiking etiquette--therefore I don't pick them up anymore. If you do, please lecture them:

- No incessant talking
- No quiet grumpiness
- Don't smell
- Don't reek of cigarettes or marijuana
- Don't have animals
- Don't have oversized luggage or surfboards
- Don't be more than two adults
- Don't carry drugs or contraband
- Don't be armed
- Don't bring small children/babies
- Don't expect me to make pit stops for your bowel movements
- Don't eat, smoke or drink in my car without permission
- Be polite; smile sometimes
- Basic grooming
- Stay off controversial topics or agree with driver
- Offer to pay a few bucks for gas
- Don't have fleas
- Say thank you & good bye after the ride

And now specifically for the Big Island:

- Don't be sweaty and half naked
- Have most teeth. In its original color.
- Wear something on your feet
- Only play a ukulele if you know how to
- Sing only when explicitly given permission
- Don't be over 200 lbs
- No sign needed when you look like Gandalf: It's Pahoa or HOVE
- Don't wear your reeking dreadlocks open
- If you ride in my truck bed, don't urinate there.
- Do not steal anything from my car
- Don't roll out your personal misery
- Don't use drugs in my car
- Don't try to sell me drugs or meds
- Do not ask for money, drugs, or meds
- Don't offer sex for drugs, meds, or money
- Don't expect me to wait in a parking lot while you apply for welfare

\


That is an impressive list. You forgot Don't tell me about the Twin Towers was an inside job or were you including that with - No incessant talking? Cause damn that one gets me every time.

[AJH2008]

"It's no easier to qualify here than anywhere else in the country."

I am going to bed. I am tired and apparently you have not found whatever link you are searching for to prove me wrong on Google so have at it but you will be on your own, I am done waiting for your reply.

Truth is I have met numerous individuals on the island who have claimed to have same day approval for SNAP and I know of two people personally who applied WHO DID NOT LIE on their applications. They filled out the forms, they qualified by the standards set by the state. The bare minimum point I was making is that persons without a Hawaiian address or id or proof of income can walk out of the Hilo office in less than two hours with a card not to be bothered again for 6 months. My question why was sincere. We are temp back in Alaska trying to help those two young men I took to the welfare office months ago in Hilo get jobs on the North Slope here in Alaska. Why? Because WHY NOT? We can afford to help a couple kids out who have purpose and motivation. They helped us out in Hawaii developing our property, we are returning the favor. I was spurred to post here in disbelief after both cards are showing they are active again for next month. I was wondering if any locals knew here WHY the state just blindly pays out benefits.

Since you LOVE links here is something I found, "“All applicants arriving at eligibility offices on Maui and in Hilo are seen on the same day. Since November 2011, between 78% and 88% of all SNAP applications processed on Maui and in Hilo met the federal compliance timeline. At the Kapolei Processing Center on Oahu, which began operations on January 13, 2012, same day determination figures average 78% for applicants who appear in person and 77 % for those who apply via mail or fax. The DHS expects the State to be in full federal compliance by December 2012."


SEEEEEEEE I was right the state is processing same day applications. No other state I know of processes even emergency hardship cases as quick as Hawaii does a normal one.
[url=http://mauitvnews.com/blog/tag/food-stamps/]food stamps - Maui[/url]

To me the value of something like HDT said is the amount of your life you trade for it. On your deathbed will dominating city data have been worth it?

[mdand3boys]

Originally Posted by AJH2008

We have been on the island for a few months. During this time we must have picked up a few dozen hitchhikers. Almost every one of them excitedly tutors us on how easy it is to get welfare/foodstamps. All you need to tell them at the benefit office we are told is you do not have a return ticket off the island and you do not cook your food with anyone else. There is not a requirement for proving residency, income or even a state of Hawaii ID. We two guys to the pink building in Hilo, they went in, came out less than two hours later with $330 on a creditcard for food. Just like that. Crime, bumming, panhandling IMO would be greatly reduced if the state did not make it simple like this for anyone to get freebies.

I asked a few who roam around the island how they manage to check in etc... with the welfare office. Again, we are told the state is to poor to require active job searching or demand compliance like other states do for job training. You invest a couple hours of your life and get a free ride for 6 months before applying again. No one checks on your status or whereabouts.

Do you think crime would go up or arrivals would go down if the state started demanded accountability to participants of welfare programs?

Completely true.

I worked as an IT consultant in those state and county offices for about a year.
Getting SNAP (aka EBT/food stamps) does not require any work efforts. If one wants to get cash assistance, then there is a work requirement. The check-in requirement for SNAP ranges from 3-6 months and that can be done via a phone call.

None of you would believe how much those office workers push people into every possible welfare program you could ever imagine - and then some. It is sickening.

[mdand3boys]

Yes, SNAP applicants are seen and processed in the same day. The staff has a pile of new EBT cards and they simply swipe the new card, enter in the amount to be put on it, enter a PIN and hand it to the recipient. TANF and some of the other programs require several extra days wait due to the "checking" the social worker is supposedly doing.

[Jungjohann]

So, someone here on the three island 50 dollar travel package could walk into the office in Hilo, and, literally, walk back out in a couple of hours with a couple hundred bucks worth of 'groceries', without any checking what so ever by the State or the Feds. Cause, if that's the case, IT SUCKS.