If you have found yourself in the position, like millions of other households across America, to begin the task of applying for government assistance, there are many agencies that can help you. President Obama opened up an entire department on government grants to assist U.S. citizens. They are grants to help citizens start a business, pay off a mortgage, go back to college and even pay off credit card debt. And a grant does not have to be paid back, unlike a loan.

If you are a single mother, there are many organizations that can help you maintain your household with necessities like food, clothing, diapers and formula, bus passes, babysitters and tuition for going back to school for a high school diploma or even a college degree. If you simply need a pick-up couple bags of groceries to get you from one paycheck to the next, there are plenty of churches in your neighborhood that have set up food banks and offer this minimal support.

The Food Stamp Program is a federal program that is run by each state and will help families that fall below a certain income level, with food and food-cash. So many have been laid off or lost their jobs completely, that more and more people have found themselves needing to apply food stamps to their monthly budget for food. In order to get food stamps you must apply online with the necessary information including social security numbers of everyone in the household and proof of income. It is then evaluated and your application is either accepted or denied. The actual dollar amount is determined by the number of dependents that are living in your household compared to the amount of income. Your rent or mortgage, automobile – everything is considered and the more children in the family, usually the more desperate the need. If your main income is social security or social security disability then it is almost certain that you would be eligible because the income is so low.

The Food Stamp Program was established almost 65 years ago as an aid to those who had been struggling throughout the war. It was designed to be a temporary program to get people back on their feet and into steady work again. The recession and times we are in right now seem to reflect those in yesterday almost exactly. When people are in need, our government reaches out a hand to help.