State sending $1 checks to Washington's needy

OLYMPIA, Wash. – The state is sending out hundreds of thousands of $1 checks to the state’s neediest residents. It’s a plan that’s supposed to bring millions of dollars worth of food stamps to the state by March.


When you add printing and postage, it seems like a waste, but the state says the economy has them pulling out all the stops to find money wherever they can.

$1 isn’t the kind of help Wendy Nelson expected when she signed up for welfare last month. Nelson is one of 250,000 Washington residents on food stamps.

"It's just a huge waste of taxpayer money,” said Nelson.

But Leo Ribas, head of community services at the Department of Social and Health Services, says there’s a method to the state’s madness.

"We're trying to do this at a time when people need assistance the most,” said Ribas.

He says if the state’s food stamp recipients receive just $1 for energy bill assistance, that qualifies them for extra federal assistance. That means someone like Nelson could receive about $30 more per month in food stamps.

Sending out $1 checks cost the state $250,000. DSHS says that could bring the state and additional $43 million in federal funding.

Call it red tape or a hoop to jump through. Either way, the state says it makes sense.

"I think it's an issue of maximizing the federal regulations to the advantage of Washington residents,” said Ribas.

Nelson says it just sounds like more bureaucracy.

"If there was that much money already there, why not just help distribute that among the recipients rather than doing it this way?” asks Nelson.

Since Nelson doesn’t have a checking account, cashing that $1 check would cost her $5 in fees. The state says, luckily, recipients don’t have to cash or deposit the checks to receive the additional benefits.