TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families is a Federal program that sends money to the states for them to use pretty much however they want, as long as they're using it to alleviate poverty.
Mississippi has a pretty loose definition of poverty alleviation, that's for sure.
Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre wangled millions to erect a volleyball facility at the University of Southern Mississippi, his alma mater, and - more relevantly - the school where his daughter played - surprise, surprise - volleyball. The funding was supposedly to provide sports opportunities for underserved communities, but it's hard to see that the daughter of a multi-millionaire football star has been anything other than overserved during her privileged young life.
Favre was also given $1.1 million to give speeches - just what needy families need! - but he never actually bothered to give the speeches. And $2 million was funneled into a pharma startup Favre was involved in.
There were other sporting recipients of the TANF largesse:
Marcus Dupree, a former college football phenom, paid $371,000 to buy a 4,000-square-foot house, with a swimming pool, pavilion, and “adjoining acreage on which Mr. Dupree was to maintain horses.” Dupree claimed in charity filings it would be for “equestrian activities for underprivileged children.”(Source: Vox)
The DiBiases - Ted Sr., Ted Jr., and Brett, a family of well-known professional wrestlers - scored funds for bogus leadership training, a four-month stay for Brett (to the tune of $160K) at a high-end drug rehab facility in Malibu, and $1.7M for Ted Sr.'s "wrestling ministry." (Praise the Lord, and pass the TANF money.)
Non-athletes also had their hands in the till.
In all, the state auditor found at least $77 million misused from 2017 to 2020. Mississippi’s yearly TANF spending has ranged anywhere from $55 million to $104 million in federal TANF funds in recent years.
So far, six folks involved in the scam - Favre isn't one of them - have been criminally charged.
Nationwide, only 21 out of 100 families living in poverty qualify for TANF - in 1996, when TANF began, the figure was 68% - and the range is, not surprisingly, wide. In California and Vermont, 71% of those living in poverty receive TANF money. (Couldn't find the Massachusetts figure, other than that it's over 40%.) In Mississippi, it's roughly 4% of families in poverty.
And ain't no one getting rich on TANF. In Mississippi, a family of three, which would need an income of less than $5K to qualify, would get about $260 a month.
It's worse than shocking that only 4% of poor folks in Mississippi are considered needy enough to receive a few bucks - money that comes from the Feds, by the way, not from Mississippi.
I'm no expert on welfare funds, but I've had enough exposure through my volunteering to know that most (I'm guessing 99.9999%) of the people looking for help NEED the help.
I've volunteered for years in a shelter, and I don't think I'm going out on a limb when I say that ain't no one who comes in for breakfast or lunch, to get clean (mostly used) clothing, to find help navigating housing opportunities or signing up for the Massachusetts version of TANF, is scheming to find benefits they don't "deserve."
We don't means test. If someone making $200K a year wants to come in for lunch, no questions asked. But guess what? Someone who can afford to grab lunch at Panera is going to grab lunch at Panera, and not get in line to eat off a plastic tray at St. Francis House. (Not that you can't get a good meal at SFH. If I'm working in the kitchen, and there's food leftover, I often grab lunch. The buffalo mac and cheese is my favorite, but last week I took a couple of yummy crab cakes home. And the Italian wedding soup? To die for.)
Christmas in the City, the other organization I volunteer for, does do means testing. CITC is centered around helping needy families during the holidays. Pre-covid, we used to run a big party for families living in shelters, and provide toys for those housed but in need. Living in a shelter we worked with automatically qualified someone to come to the party. Who's living in a shelter who's NOT in need? Since we haven't been running the party, we bring gifts directly to the shelters.
For our toy giveaway, families need to sign up in advance for the event. To qualify, they need to be able to demonstrate that their kids are on MassHealth (Medicaid). We sometimes make exceptions, but that's our prime qualifier.
Sure, sometimes someone shows up wearing a Canada Goose coat and UGGs. So maybe they could afford toys for their kids, but...whatever.
I believe that if someone's willing to drag in town to stand in line to sign up for toys, and drag back in a few weeks later to pick toys up for their kids, deserves those damned toys. Last year, on one of the toy days, it was sleeting. And people stood in line, outdoors, in the sleet because, with covid protocols, we could only let in a small number of folks at a time. These are parents - many of them working a couple of minimum wage jobs, trying to keep body and soul together - who just want to have something to put under the tree for their kiddos.
That's poor folk needy.
I guess when you're Brett Favre or Ted DiBiase, Sr., there's a different level and definition of need entirely, where NEED = GREED. What an astounding level of amorality, pocketing money that could go to making the life of some desperately poor family at least marginally better.
My father had a couple of terms for people like Brett Favre, Ted DiBiase, and the other Mississippi scammers. One was "bum." Another was NG, for No Good.
What a bunch of NG bums! Hope they all get criminally sacked for their involvement in this scam.
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