Michigan Lottery Winner Stayed On Food Stamps [Video]

Think about what you would do if you won the lottery. Pay off your debt, buy a new car, maybe buy a new house? Mostly, you would probably not worry about buying your own groceries, because, duh,  you just won the lottery! But, that didn't seem to occur to one Michigan woman.

Amanda Clayton, an unemployed 24-year-old mother of two from Michigan,won the lottery  last fall, after which she did what any of us would do and bought a house and a new car. But when people in her town spotted her using a Michigan Bridge card (the food stamp debit card) at grocery stores, they asked a local news channel to look into it.

Turns out she wasn't technically doing anything illegal. She still doesn't have a job, so Michigan law allows her to draw $200 per month in food stamps so that she can feed herself and her kids.

Rep. Dale Zorn is not happy about this situation, and says that two bills to prevent the practice are currently being considered by Michigan lawmakers — the legislation would require lottery winners of prizes of $1,000 or more to have their names cross-checked with the Department of Human Services to ensure help isn’t being given where it’s not warranted.

Clayton has since been taken off of the food assistance program, but doesn't feel she did anything wrong, saying, “I feel that it’s okay because, I mean, I have no income and I have bills to pay. I have two houses [now] … It’s just hard, you know. I’m struggling.”

Struggling? If that's a struggle, we're ALL struggling.

[WDIV-TV]