From Mercedes to Food Stamps: One Woman's Story
LEMON: A "Washington Post" article getting a whole lot of attention. It is titled "This is What Happened When I Drove my Mercedes to Pick up Food Stamps." The writer and her family fell on hard times, and she did in fact drive her Mercedes to pick up public assistance. She's Darlena Cunha, and she joins us now. Thank you, Darlena, for joining us. You're a local television producer. You're college educated. You're in a stable relationship. But within a matter of just a few months, you found yourself on government assistance. How did that happen?</s>DARLENA CUNHA, EXPERIENCED FINANCIAL HARDSHIP: Well, a lot of things happened all at once. So we were both working. You know, good enough jobs, and we had enough money for two people to live on very comfortably with room for savings. And I was pregnant at the time with my baby daughters, my twins. And two weeks before we went to give birth, he lost his job. He saw a pink slip, and that was it. For that, and it wasn't half of the income. He was making, more than me. So suddenly we found ourselves, after having bought our house to house our twins, we found ourselves not only with less than half of our income, because I was making my maternity leave income once the girls were born, we also found ourselves facing mortgage on a house that was now worth about half what we had paid for it.</s>LEMON: You were upside-down on your home. And a lot of people, this was in 2007-2008, around that time. And a lot of people found themselves in a similar situation. So many Americans can relate to what you're saying. Your article is called "What Happened When I Drove My Mercedes to Pick up Food Stamps." Can you explain how you got into the position where you were driving your Mercedes to pick up coupons, food, milk and baby formula? I know that you said you had a sick kid, and then your husband lost his job. But then you still had a Mercedes.</s>CUNHA: Yes. We did. Before I go further, I really, really want to point out that I was not on Food Stamps. Food Stamps is SNAP, and it is a different program. I was on Women, Infants and Children.</s>LEMON: Right.</s>CUNHA: Which is vouchers. So it's just been a sticking point with the article, and I want people to know that we were on WIC, which is a much easier program to get into, less stringent. So we were able to keep both of our cars, for instance, and many other things. They didn't check us out nearly as much as they would for something who needs that form of help, which is also perfectly legitimate to need. But anyway, so I was picking up the coupons, the vouchers, because my girls were born at 34 weeks, and I couldn't breast-feed them because they could not latch, because they were premature. So I was pumping and eventually I had to supplement with formula and then switch over to formula. And at that time, formula was about $15 per one can. And I had two children to feed. And I had to feed them formula for about a year and a half. Because of their premature birth and just the different dietary things that they particularly needed. Most children start eating solids at 1.</s>LEMON: Darlena?</s>CUNHA: And -- yes?</s>LEMON: A lot of people ask, when I read some of the comments on your article, and they're like why couldn't you sell your Mercedes? Why didn't you and your husband sell your Mercedes if you were -- instead of going on assistance?</s>CUNHA: Well, what's the point of that, honestly? We had -- it was a 2003.</s>LEMON: The point is money.</s>CUNHA: We would have gotten a couple of -- we would have gotten a couple of thousand dollars for it, and we would have had to buy a new car, because I was working at the time, which I think is also being glossed over. After my maternity leave, I went back to work. And I needed a car to drive 90 miles one way and 90 miles back the other way. And he needed a car in case there was an emergency with our kids. So to sell the Mercedes, to have to take the time to put it up, and then take the time to get a sale and then take the time to find another car that's maybe less reliable, that is going to -- we need car payments on or we can pay totally off but it's a beater and is going to break down every two seconds and then we have to pay for repairs and it's always in the shop, there is no reason to do that. So we didn't. We held on to it.</s>LEMON: You also say you learned that poverty is a circumstance, not a value judgment. What about the idea that, in this country, hard work can lead you out of poverty? Do you still -- do you still believe that?</s>CUNHA: I don't think that there are many people on assistance that are not hard workers. And I feel that that would be the main point of the piece itself. You don't get into poverty and have to rely on government assistance because you're a lazy, quote/unquote, welfare queen most of the time. These people are hardworking American citizens. They're working two and three jobs. And when you are broke, you don't have the time to find out ways to save money. You're busy spending it on food. You can't pay your rent. And when you can't pay rent or pay for your car payment or pay for a speeding ticket, that $200 that I can pay now, they can't pay it, and it turns into a thousand dollars plus other fines.</s>LEMON: You know what? And you're right.</s>CUNHA: It's expensive to be poor.</s>LEMON: That is a perception in this country that many people who need assistance are lazy or they don't want to work. And I'm glad that you are here to share that, not the typical face that most would think of someone who would need assistance in America. Thank you, Darlena Cunha for telling your story. We appreciate it.</s>CUNHA: Thank you.</s>LEMON: All right. Next, is LeBron James closer to a career decision?