To relieve Americans from the stress brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump administration implemented the CARES Act, also known as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.

The bill entitles taxpayers to receive a one-time direct cash payment. It also includes insurance, incentives, and loans for employees. For an adult with a gross income of $75,000 per year, the amount can be up to $1,200, while a married couple with a combined income of $150,000 may receive up to $2,400, and if they have children, they will get $500 more for each child.


Why give away the stimulus checks?

However, some people who receive the payment are giving it away. When coronavirus patients pass away, the money instead must go to their relatives. A lot of them are opposed to the idea of keeping the money that was intended to be for their now-deceased loved ones.

Jeanne Siracuse, whose mother passed away from coronavirus last year, said they didn't want it, adding, "It's not who this stimulus was supposed to benefit."

In Texas, there has been a shortage of food distribution from a San Antonio Food Bank relief operation, where families by the thousands waited in their cars for hours. It was to this food giveaway program that Toi Cudworth decided to donate $950 of her stimulus payment.

She said, "It's America. People shouldn't be hungry."

Apart from the San Antonio Food Bank, other nonprofit groups that engage in relief programs include small businesses in New York, Seattle, and some are from the initiative of teachers in Philadelphia.

A campaign on the Internet called Pledge My Stimulus was initiated to donate to causes like the Main Access Immigrant Network and other nonprofit organizations all over the United States. 

Campaign organizer Wendy Blackwell-Moore insisted that the money belongs to the people. "We need to make sure we get it into the right hands."


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Coronavirus crisis

Because of the decline of the U.S. economy, Americans are provided the cash relief to reimburse failing businesses and to bring emphasis to social distancing. Part of the repercussions of this move is that people are now either unemployed or are employed and paid for working fewer hours.

To receive the stimulus check, one must own a Social Security number, which means the individual must be a taxpayer. The stimulus package from the government amounts up to $2.2 trillion in total for people whose income comes with benefit programs, such as Social Security.

People are expecting theirs to arrive in the middle of April, but the money may not even be enough to sustain much of the low-income population. At this time, people are panicking to save for food and other resources while the quarantine is directing them to stay home rather than work.

And although significant corporations are offering programs by feeding and assisting them, there is simply not enough to go around. For instance, even relief operations initiated by corporations are overwhelmed by the sheer number of Americans who require assistance.

The San Antonio Food Bank holds an occasional mega drive-thru food giveaway that prepares food for thousands of families in a day. 

According to President and CEO Eric Cooper, the operation had become more inclusive, but volunteers could not keep up with the demand. The food distribution was only good for 120,000 people in a week.

Because the program is nonprofit, they are imploring financial aid from the state so that their distribution would be able to meet the needs of the hungry in the counties.