Texas: Stop Driving People to Suicide Because of Poverty

LAREDO, Texas -- After a seven-hour standoff in a state welfare office, 38-year-old Rachelle Grimmer shot her two children before killing herself. The reason for her meltdown? She had been denied food stamps by the State of Texas because she did not provide enough information along with the 18-page application which, even if accepted, would have granted Grimmer's entire family an average monthly food stipend of only $294. Grimmer's 10-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter remain in critical condition. Read the full report here.

Grimmer apparently thought her children were better off dead than starving. This type of extremism occurs out of desperation; had the State of Texas been more lenient and compassionate, perhaps this woman would not have felt pushed to the brink.

Sign and share this petition urging the Texas Department of Health and Human Services to review their policies and streamline their process so that another tragic act of desperation never occurs!