Twitter was recently abuzz with people asking others who have the means and don’t depend on programs like WIC, Social Security Insurance (SSI) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to wait a few days to do their grocery shopping, to give shoppers who use the programs time to buy their groceries first, since many receive their benefits near the first of the month.
But as Lifehacker pointed out, several of these programs don’t all pay out at the beginning of the month (even though many do, like WIC, SSI and Veterans’ Affairs, or VA), and thus waiting to shop could be “deeply unhelpful” for those grocery-store customers.
“Many states further restrict WIC eligibility to certain brands, especially for packaged foods, and this is where your choices can actually make a difference,” added Lifehacker writer A.A. Newton. “If you’re not on WIC, grabbing a different brand of cereal or yogurt is literally the least you can do to help people who are.”
As of Monday afternoon, there were 357,036 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States — the most in the world — according to a Times database, with 10,522 deaths in the country. Johns Hopkins reports those global numbers to be over 1.3 million and 73,703, respectively.
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