The Dominion Post Sister Mary Rehmann developed a desire to help the poor as a child. With state and federal welfare reform taking place across the nation, poor people in rural West Virginia can use her help. Rehmann is a Morgantown attorney. About 60 percent of her clients are below the poverty level. Since they have no children, they are only eligible to receive food stamps from the federal government.
Food stamps are very important because, for adults without kids, that's all they get.
It means having some form of sustenance. Fortunately, West Virginia is one state that requested a waiver from the federal government for this food stamp restriction. Jim Shaffer, program director with the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, said the one-year waiver expires in January 1988. Available in 47 counties of the state, the waiver is renewable. One such fellow is Marion County resident Robin Sayre, who has lived in a canvas tent the last four years.