Longview,TX — Two years ago at age 62, Susan Jefferson did something she never dreamed of doing. She applied for food stamps.

“It’s nothing I am ashamed of. I worked all my life, and now I need help,” she said.

With degrees in social work and community service, being on food stamps wasn’t the future that Jefferson imagined for herself. But when bills stacked up and the Social Security check wasn’t enough, Jefferson made the decision.

“It was a real cushion; it allowed me to get a vehicle. I had the money for a car payment,” the Longview woman said.

Jefferson is just one of hundreds of senior East Texans who have applied for food stamps in the past five years.

Read more from the Longview News-Journal.