Clarification/Follow-up by tarot10 on 03/15/05 7:53 am:
In my state in order to receive food stamps one must not have any sources of income whatsoever except welfare and possibly SSI.

Best thing to do is call your local office. You don't need to tell them your name and they won't ask you either.

Just tell them you're on SSI and you would like to know if you qualify for food stamps.

Also check out the food banks like at your local senior centers and churches and your city hall to find out where they are located. Some food banks get their food from grocery stores and distribute it to ANYONE who wants it. At thanksgiving they give away turkeys and hams that grocery stores donate. The ones I have visited never ask for any information other than your name and I.D. which is used to keep tract of the food to make sure people do not abuse the program.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Clarification/Follow-up by tarot10 on 03/15/05 7:55 am:
Make sure to apply for social security disability also. You might be able to get more money from that program than from SSI.

Clarification/Follow-up by tarot10 on 03/17/05 7:24 pm:
Forgot to mention earlier that part of the Social Security Disability application process is to be denied. When you get your denial letter, you WILL need to take it to an attorney to handle the denial for your. If you haven't already applied, do it as soon as poosible because it can take around two years for your application to be processed.

Clarification/Follow-up by Anonymous on 03/17/05 8:30 pm:
Dear Tarot10:

Thank you for your responses. I applied for Social Security Disability Insurance in April of last year. They still haven't made a decision for my case. So I don't have a denial letter to bring to an attorney.

Is there anything I can do to get them to make a decision soon?


Thanks again,

C.L.

Clarification/Follow-up by tarot10 on 03/17/05 9:47 pm:
You definitely need to call the 800 toll free Social Security number and find out what the status is of your application. It will be a year next month since you applied. You should have heard something back from them by now or at least in April. The people at the 800 number are very helpful and knowledgegable also. They will be able to tell you by when you should receive a denial letter. In my experience, it takes a year for them to process a form. So if you get a denial letter in April, you should start getting money in April of next year. That is if they are still taking a year to process a form.

In my experience the people at the social security 800 number are unlike other government employees. They are courteous and helpful and they know their job well.

As soon as you get your denial letter, take it to an attorney to handle it.

Things at the Department of Social Security seem to be on a time schedule and so I don't know if there is anything you can do to speed things up. The people at the 800 will be able to tell you if there is anything you can do to speed things up. You might also post that question on the public board. Maybe someone knows if there is a way.

Let me know if you have any other questions.