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Page 2 · column 4 of 7 · from the scan, no model involved
U1CU luuiei. x ucy nepv vuc uvuov neat and clean but could not af* ford much-needed repairs. When the Welfare Worker went to see them they were polite, but they said they’d “think’it oxer” awhile.
Fifteen months later a neighbor asked the Welfare people to help the' sisters. Again they decided to wait. Ten months after that a niece came to say her three aunts had cashed their last insurance policy and were destitute. With three children and her Ifusbarvd’s wages, $30.00 a week, she could not care for the old ladies. They could no longer do laundry but they were still renting a room; the $3 a week they got from that was all the money they had.
This time the three sisters applied for old age assistance. The Welfare worker figured their needs according to standard figures. This county had so little money they paid only 70 per cent of afiy person’s need. When they deducted the $12 the sisters got from their roomer, the Welfare allowance was $39.80 a month. After a year one of the sisters died. N'ow the two who are left get $22.00 from the Welfare— $11 apiece.
The other story concerns a plumber and his wife, who came to their Welfare office two years ago.
He was 73, she was 75; they had no children. He had worked until 10 months before. They were getting $15 a month from Social Security—jiust enough to pay the rent. They had used all their savings and now had no food left in the house. The Welfare worker gave them a $6 grocery order and said she would visit them at their home.
The worker found the house plain but comfortable and wrell cared for. The curtains had been carefully darned and were clean and beautifully ironed*. As tha worker was leaving the wife said, “It isn’t a disgrace to get old-age assistance, is it?”
Their budget of need figured up 16 $59.80. Subtracting the $15 of Social Security left $44.80. This city had enough money then to pay 100 per cent of need, so the welfare Board sent a check for $44.80 each month.
The old couple got along very well on that for more than two years. Then the man was sick and needed medicine. The budget was raised to $i>0 for two months. Then Welfare funds ran low and all aid was cut to 80 per cent of minimum n-aedfa. The pair got $37 a month to buy food, fuel, lights, soap—every single thing they used.
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