About one in six people in Buncombe County are receiving “food assistance.” We can add to that the charity food pantries. The government is going to reduce the amount people receive from about $200 to $189 for single people and $668 to $36 for a family of four. (Kids can eat free at schools, too.) In Buncombe County, you can enroll in the food stamps program if you can starve for the 26-day waiting period. Elsewhere, really desperate people have to survive a 90-day fast – unless they have friends and neighbors to help. During the recent food outage due to FAST upgrades, people on food stamps were swapping and sharing their allotments. Ah, but the feasts one could have but for the cable and cell phone bills!