US families rely on handouts in world's richest country

…Roach says that while some residents have been left in a desperate situation by the local lumber industry shedding jobs, most of those forced on to food stamps and other welfare are still in employment.

“I blame everything on the price of gasoline. When it went up to $4 a gallon 18 months ago it affected everybody. It forced up the cost of food and utilities. People were working all day and they still weren’t earning enough to pay all the bills,” he said.

“Food prices you can combat a bit because people can grow their own gardens. They can kill deer, fox. You can eat ‘coon. But gasoline affects everybody. They just can’t make it.”

In West Virginia’s small towns it is often the churches that step in. Barbara Accord, a Presbyterian minister working with a coalition of churches in the United Christian Food Pantry to feed the poor, says that desperation has forced some families to abandon their homes and move in with others to save money.

“Families are moving in with other families because they can’t survive in their own households.

“They are giving up existing houses because they can’t afford them any more or they’re coming from another state because they’ve lost their jobs and this is where they come from.”

Guardian