My name is Darius Conway and throughout life I have had to struggle, but with that struggle comes hope. As a child I grew up in a low income neighborhood. It is the place that helped me become an adult at such an early age, the place where my father was taken away from me, and the place that I learned what welfare and government assistance was.
Earlier as a child I would get ‘money’ that did not look like other children’s ‘money’, but we used it for the same things. My mother would ask one of her children, most times being me, to go get something from the store for her and in return, treat oneself to something. Then, she would either hand crispy pieces of paper or a card that looked like a Visa over and say, “Just bring my stamps back!” Well, as a child I did not realize what my mother was doing, but as I grew older and learned things about the world, I learned my mother was being helped to raise her children by the government.
I believe in welfare and government assistance. I believe that if my mother would have not had help from the government, then she would have probably given up, lost hope, and thought that there was no need to even try to survive. But, with government assistance, my mother always had food for her children and when she was let go from her job, more then once, she always had some kind of ‘money’ to help her get through the days. I believe welfare and government assistance helped insure my mother that there was hope and she would make it.
Today, as an eighteen year old and high school senior, I receive government assistance. I moved out of my mother’s house earlier in my senior year due to the years of abuse from my father. I did not know where I was going to go or how I was going to get my next meal. Well, through the help of the government, I am able to receive an EBT card. An EBT card is a card that the government puts a certain amount of money on so the card holder can buy food or use cash credits. This card was known as ‘stamps’. I believe that without the help of this card I probably would be struggling to find a meal each day. I am grateful and thankful for welfare and government assistance and I believe it changes lives.
I want to be the best at what I do in life. I know that I will be successful in life, not caring about fame or anything like that, but knowing that I made a change in some way, shape, or form. With the many obstacles I have faced over the years, comes triumphant and the drive I have. I will help create some kind of change in the world. And, thanks to government assistance and welfare, I have hope.