Did this man not abuse you before you got married? Did the abuse only start after you were married? How old were you when you got married? Before marriage did you apply yourself and get an education, degree, or some other marketable skill before you got married. Do you have a high school diploma, or anything else?
You said you have been "abused for years" and that you also have a 14 month old at the same time. Why would you have a kid with somebody that abuses you? Why did you not get help for these "years of abuse" before hand?
Listen i'm sorry to hear your in a sad spot. But, it was your life decisions that got you there, no mine. I didn't make your decisions and force you in the spot you are at now. But yet, you made the decisions you did and now you need a handout. I made the decisions I have, and I do not need a handout. Yet, in some way, I am forced to pay for you. That isn't right.
I've done the math. Without assistance, I will have $15 to spare a month for groceries after the rest of the bills are paid.
That's 15 dollars more than some families have. Some people go into debt through hard times and then pay it back in better times, all without getting assistance. When I put my way through school I was living life on a credit card and between student loans and the cost of living I was close to 40K in debt. Shit I didn't have 15 bucks left over every month, I went into debt a few hundred each month.
If I had known years ago that I could knock chicks up and if I could prove I was poor on paper that other people would pay for said babies I would have done so. If I had known that if I didn't pay my way through college, that I could get free food for life, I would have done so.
Don't tell me what you can't do. People that tell me what they can't do I hand a broom and tell them what they can do. You should sell your cell phone before taking assistance. You don't have to have a cell phone. For the most part, cell phones were not affordable for the masses before 1995. And from 1994 back through the history of time billions of people have learned to live without cell phones. You can to. You also don't need a computer, or the internet, those bills can go do. I have lived more of my life without a computer, or a cell phone, and i'm still here. Don't use abuse as an excuse. When I was a kid growing up in boston everybody was fucking touching everybody. I did have a funny uncle that touched one of my brothers. I was abused by a priest in the mid 80's when I was an altar boy. If you need assistance you need to give up everything not necessary before getting that assistance, if you are not willing to, then you are just being greedy.
Lastly thing. You wrote that you are in the process of divorcing a man that abuses you. But looking at your history 8 days ago you wrote "I don't want to get into the why's or anything like that because I'm really raw right now, but... my husband dropped the Divorce bomb on me last night."
So who is divorcing who here? According to your own words he is divorcing you.
The truly needy that do need assistance do need to be compassionately helped. But there needs to be a line drawn in the sand between who is needy, and who is just taking advantage. Sorry lady, but I don't feel for you. Your decisions put you where you are now. If you truly need assistance and you have never taken it before I am all for giving you that assistance by way of long term loans. But only the disabled and sick are deserving of handouts.