Imporatance of Food Assistance for Everyone

Government aid programs are enacted to provide relief and assistance to persons of the lower economic strata to alleviate their plight and enhance their quality of life.  Programs such as the Food Stamp and the Medicaid are the most easily to identify in the public. In the case of the Food Stamp program, it was introduced during the Great Depression of the 1930s.  This program was created to assist farmers unload their surplus, while at the same time helping the needy deal with the financial crisis of the times. This program was halted in 1943, and it was not until the Food Stamp Act of 1964 that the program became permanent. Since that time, millions of Americans have at one or another made use of this program. As for the Medicaid program, it was enacted in 1965 to provide medical assistance for low income families and individuals.

As life would have it, I was recently told by my mother that she was a recipient of both the Food Stamp and the Medicaid programs. I was shocked! As a child, even though we lived in a garage in my aunt’s house, I never went hungry, and when I became sick, my mom took me to the doctor immediately. Undoubtedly, this might not have possible if it were not by the benefits of these programs, for as a single mother, my mother did not make enough money to provide for me in the manner that she did, as I know to understand it. But my mother is only one of the many millions of people that make use of these programs.

For the past two summers, I have worked in a canvassing program that sells Christian literature going door-to-door. During this time, I have met many people who are being aided by different government programs, such as the Food Stamp and Medicaid programs. Some of them were disabled or elderly and were not able to work, so the only way for them to secure medical services and a proper diet was to enlist in one or both of these programs. According to United States Bureau of Census 49.2% of the population in the United States makes use of some type of government aid program, which constitutes almost half of the people living in this country. Obviously, the quality of life of these families and individuals would not be the same if the programs would not be in place. 

To improve the government aid programs, the target range should be broader. To broaden the range is to lower the eligibility of these government aid programs allowing the families in need to be taken care of. But there can be issues with doing so; the funding for the programs. To avoid debt, the money to support the programs should come from a fraction of our income taxes going towards the military. If the fraction of the military funding is redirected to the government aid programs, just a fraction would help improve the lives of United States citizens.
   
I strongly believe that government aid programs are necessary to provide for the needs of those less fortunate. Society is much stronger and healthy when its citizens are well fed and medically taken care of, and government assistance programs make this possible to a great extent. It is doubtful that the citizenry of the Unites States would be as strong and healthy as it is without these indispensable programs.