I found out what "poor" really means

Of course I grew up on a small farm just outside of Groton, NY. We didn't have much, but we had a few cows, chickens, a 'veal calf' and some fence post we had made to sell down town. One day when I boarded the school bus on it's way to Groton school, our final stop was way back in a circle of trees, there stood an old mansion, lots of old trees, but no lights nor anything I could see from our school bus. Five children came out and stood there waiting for the bus driver to open the door and let them in, and they sat down up front, closely besides each other. I know that both of their parents were alcoholics and even they both worked, they spend all their money on beer and other alcohol drinks. Then it was apparent to me that the oldest daughter had dug down into the frozen ice and found some frozen crab apples. She held them tightly in her hands, and then as the bus began to move again, she passed each one of her siblings one frozen apple. No one liked to sit around them; their noses where snotty, they coughed and with hardly anything to wear, I saw that some of them had rags wrapped around their feet, in an attempt to keep them warm. I watched each one of them as they hid their frozen crab apples, not wanting anyone else to see what little they had to eat for that day. I thought that I didn't have very much, just growing up on a little farm. But my grand mother had packed me some food, a slice of her home made bread, spread with real butter, and sometimes there would be an apple in there, a good one. No money to buy the sweet milk that came in large pint sizes, but that was enough for me until I returned back to the farm, where after we did our chores. there waiting for us was more home made bread, with real butter, and always a big glass of newly milked milk. But one day, as we had picked them up, and the other sister was still handing out frozen crab apples, the bus driver suddenly stopped right in the middle of the road, opened the bus door, and dashed into his house, and soon he was coming back,, with his arms loaded with shoes, socks, coats, some mittens, and a wide smile on his face. You see, back then, we didn't have those who would visit homes to see what conditions existed in each one of the houses where we all lived. It was just the goodness of that bus driver, who stopped,  suddenly filled with compassion by seeing those children boarding his school bus with almost nothing. Now, in these day I live, people are wanting poor people not to have anymore food stamps, they say that they ought to get off their lazy butts and get a job. Well, that might be true, but many of those same people have never know what it's like to decide where to buy some food, or to put a little money into the medication their doctor has ordered. Yes, times have changed, when those running for office, pull out all the past, and claim that in order for Americans to feed themselves, they should earn it. I don't know what the future hold for us here in the USA, perhaps we also will face those same poor conditions, where everyone is hungry, and there still are compassionate school bus drivers, willing to share what little he had....with those much poorer than he was; I pray this never happens here, I think many of willing to share what they have with those who are poorer than they. Perhaps, I think I will wait and see.