SNAP (formerly Food Stamps)

The web site of the Illinois Department of Human Services provides comprehensive information about SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly Food Stamps), beginning with the application. You can also indicate a need for medical assistance and cash assistance on the same form.

I  was surprised to learn that in addition to grocery stores, some Farmers' Markets accept the Link card, which is an electronic card that works like a debit card.  A list of Farmers' Markets in Illinois is listed on the web site.

You will find a list of related links, including disability and rehabilitation, youth services, alcoholism and addiction, and childcare on the web.

6 Ways to Eat Well For Less

How do you eat well when you're worried about paying bills? How can you maintain a healthy diet during such stressful times as job hunting, or preparing for an interview?

The article,"6 Ways to Eat Well for Less," offers suggestions that will help you to take care of your body by eating delicious food without breaking the bank. There are links to the University of Wyoming, the University of Georgia and the U.S. Department of Agriculture where you can download recipes and cookbooks.

One of my favorite resources, "Revitalize Your Recipes," from the University of Georgia, is intended to help individuals with such chronic conditions as high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease to change their menus. For example, individuals with high blood pressure can get ideas from the section, "Cutting  Fat and Cholesterol." My other favorite resource is the recipe book from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The recipes are organized according to category, and each has a nutritional analysis.

I've listed below some of my grocery shopping tips that might  help when you're shopping for items mentioned in the suggested recipes:

• Be diligent about checking food ads.
• Compare prices; go to more than one store if you are able.
• Use coupons, including the ones you get at the checkout counter and those that are posted throughout the store next to particular items. And don't be shy. Take two or three.
• Don't make assumptions about prices. For example, Aldi Foods is not necessarily cheaper than Jewel or Dominick's. Whole Foods often has items, especially organic produce, at an affordable price that is cheaper than Dominick's price. And look for unadvertised specials.

If you have tips about this topic, please post them. Thank you.

Finding A New Job As If Your Life Depended On It

These posts by Andrew Neitlich on "simplyblog" from http://www.simplyhired.com/ March 21-22, 2011, are worth reading:

Finding A Job As If Your Life Depended on it: Part One- Get in the Right Mindset;
Part Two- Communicate Your Value
                                                        

                   

Be Fearless

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate; our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?" Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about your shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just some of us. It is everyone. And as we let our own light shine we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

-- Marianne Williamson

Top Ten Job Search Engines

1. monster.com
2. indeed.com
3. usa.gov
4. careerbuilder.com
5. dice.com (tech jobs exclusively)
6. linkup.com
7. careers.yahoo.com
8. simplyhired.com
9. linkedin.com
10. craigslist.com

Faith, Hope & Networking for Employment Help, at Church Job Clubs - AARP Bulletin

Faith, Hope & Networking for Employment Help, at Church Job Clubs - AARP Bulletin

Shame and Unemployment

A couple of years ago I saw a friend who has a high profile and high powered position. We were in graduate school together but our career goals and majors were different. I saw her again last month and we talked about getting together for lunch. Since seeing her two years ago, I have avoided contacting her because I am unemployed. Despite what I've accomplished in my career and my affection for my friend, I'm not sure if I can have lunch with her due to my feelings of shame, especially embarrassment, feeling worthless and, most of all, feeling like a failure. Perhaps you have similar feelings.

In his sermon today on Adam and Eve, Peter Lane, rector of St. Paul and the Redeemer, said this about shame:

We want to stitch together some leaves in front of the realities of our lives. That desire to hide ourselves makes it harder to be in relationship with God and others. In that hiding, in that shame, we stop living in the fullness of our creation...So don't hide everything behind  loincloths. God created you with freedom, with skepticism, with desire. Being in relationship with God does not put a damper on all those things, it blows oxygen on them, letting you live richly and fully. (emphasis mine)

The following verse from The Great Litany from Enriching Our Worship spoke to me very profoundly this morning and I offer it to you as a prayer to pray and reflect upon:

 Strengthen those who stand; comfort and help the fainthearted; raise up the fallen; and finally beat down Satan under our feet. (emphasis mine)

As you look for work, negotiate housing, and worry about medical bills,

May you have a holy and fearless Lent.


(I thank Peter Lane for permission to post an excerpt from his sermon).

Job Openings at Lettuce Entertain You Restaurants

Lettuce Entertain You Restaurants hire workers for hourly positions, salaried positions, careers at corporate office, and careers in management. A few hourly positions are available. Click EMPLOYMENT on the right side of the home page. Hourly positions include: Server, Busser, Counter Server, and Shift Supervisor.

Maggiano's is a Lettuce Entertain You Restaurant.

A restaurant job is a transition job that will provide an income until you find the right position.

Ash Wednesday

Marked by Ashes

Ruler of the Night, Guarantor of the day . . .

This day — a gift from you.

This day — like none other you have ever given, or we have ever received.

This Wednesday dazzles us with gift and newness and possibility.

This Wednesday burdens us with the tasks of the day, for we are already halfway home

     halfway back to committees and memos,

     halfway back to calls and appointments,

     halfway on to next Sunday,

     halfway back, half frazzled, half expectant,

     half turned toward you, half rather not.

This Wednesday is a long way from Ash Wednesday,

     but all our Wednesdays are marked by ashes —

     we begin this day with that taste of ash in our mouth:

     of failed hope and broken promises,

     of forgotten children and frightened women,

     we ourselves are ashes to ashes, dust to dust;

     we can taste our mortality as we roll the ash
     around on our tongues.

We are able to ponder our ashness with

   some confidence, only because our
   every Wednesday of ashes

   anticipates your Easter victory over that
   dry, flaky taste of death.

On this Wednesday, we submit our ashen way to you —

    you Easter parade of newness.

    Before the sun sets, take our Wednesday and Easter us,

     Easter us to joy and energy and courage and freedom;

     Easter us that we may be fearless for your truth.

 Come here and Easter our Wednesday with

     mercy and justice and peace and generosity.

We pray as we wait for the Risen One who comes soon.

 Walter Brueggemann, Prayers for a Privileged People (Nashville: Abingdon, 2008), pp. 27-28.

Shrove Tuesday

     Last Sunday I enjoyed a Shrove Sunday meal of Belgian waffles and sausage at St. Paul and the Redeemer. There was whipping cream, strawberries, maple syrup, syrup with pecans, and butter to adorn your waffles. How delectable! I tried to be discreet as I went back for about three helpings. I wanted more, but only a few remained and the rector, and a few members of the congregation who had been  re-arranging chairs, had not eaten. But Belgian waffles weren't enough. This morning I went to McDonald's for hotcakes. I savored every bite.

     Yesterday I saw a disheveled, destitute-looking man rummaging through his belongings, huddled up in the dark Cathedral steps on Huron Street. Did he have a nutritious meal today? More important, would I have had the courage today to escort him to a nearby IHop so that he could enjoy a pancake supper?

     On this Ash Wednesday eve, as I think about Lent, I wonder if I can "give up" or "sacrifice" the chocolate I love so that I can receive the living, resurrected Christ. Can I "take on" a commitment to be in solidarity with the suffering through prayer and study?
      
A Prayer for Social Justice

Almighty God, who created us in your own image: Grant us grace fearlessly to contend against evil and to make no peace with oppression; and that we may reverently use our freedom, help us to employ it in the maintenance of justice in our communities and among the nations, to the glory of your holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.  Book of Common Prayer.

May you have a holy and fearless Lent.