The problem of Bridge Card abuse is one that is fueled by people across Michigan of various ethnic and social backgrounds, but according to witnesses, abuse has become a major problem locally.

DEARBORN – Many local customers have created lasting friendships with the owners of the city’s many locally owned shops, which stands as another example of the close-knit feel of the community. 

But in some cases, those friendships as well as social pressure placed on store owners are being used as a means to cheat the system, according to various witnesses who spoke anonymously to The Arab American News. 

“You can go to every single market in Dearborn or Dearborn Heights and hear stories from cashiers or owners of the business about bridge card holders or food stamps,” said a cashier with the initials A.S. 

“This card is owned by many in the Arab American community whether or not they have the right (financial) conditions to receive it, and they can do that through different ways.” 

The cards are provided by the state in order to give food assistance to people in need. 

According to the cashier, who works at a market in Dearborn Heights, a customer a few weeks ago asked her if he could pay for his hookah and supplies through the Bridge Card, and she thought he was joking, but he turned out to be serious and got upset because she told him it was illegal.

“You can’t really blame the customers because there is a store in the same area that sells them to customers often,” she said. 

Cashiers have also noticed people driving up in expensive cars and then paying for items with their Bridge Cards. Other transactions involve customers borrowing food from stores and then paying at the end of the month, sometimes even paying by phone, she said. 

One customer arranged a payment for her daughter, who then pulled up to the store in a BMW. 

A friend of the daughter eventually took her to task over her decision to keep using a Bridge Card, asking her why it was needed while she is financially stable. 

She answered with sarcasm, “If I want to keep a high-class lifestyle and buy myself brand name clothes and jewelry, I’m going to need the extra support somehow.”  

Other cashiers confirmed that people have continually attempted to buy items considered illegal under the Bridge Card program, which allows customers to buy the essentials such as fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, seeds, meat, fish, and others but not hot food, smoking accessories,  medicine and more. 

Some cashiers have begun allowing hot food to be purchased against the regulations, along with other items, creating a societal pressure among market owners to continue allowing these and many other items against the rule of the law.  Now those who don’t allow it say they are losing business. 

One customer who wanted to buy hot food at a local cafe became upset that they could not buy it with a Bridge Card and instead simply left without paying, for example. 

The problem of Bridge Card abuse is one that is fueled by people across Michigan of various ethnic and social backgrounds, but according to witnesses, abuse has become a major problem locally. 

There are still many that remain loyal to the law, however, including one owner of a local market/cafe.

“For me it doesn’t matter, what matters is that I am working with dignity and honesty and to make sure that those kinds of things (assistance) are given to the people in need if that is the goal of the programs.” 

“Why don’t the people who are the owners of those cards stop themselves from using their accounts to buy what amount to luxuries?

The cards are designed to help those who are truly in need, such as one local mother who goes by the initials A.J. of five kids who also is half-blind because she can’t see out of her right eye said her husband lost her job, and recently her Bridge Card was declined for reasons she did not know. 

Experts say there are still loopholes in the Bridge Card system that need to be addressed, although some businesses have been caught trying to abuse the system on behalf of their customers. 

For example, one cashier told a story about a woman who applied for a fake divorce just so she could obtain a card, and then lied about her unborn child (she was pregnant at the time) by saying that it was her ex-husband’s, who she supposedly had gotten together with after the fake break-up. 

Other stores including some gas stations have rang up goods in false ways in order to pocket a little extra cash for large transactions, cashiers say. 

That’s nothing compared to what Leroy Fick, an older man from Michigan, did in 2011 when he maintained his Bridge Card even after winning $2 million ($850,000 lump sum) from the Michigan Lottery, or what hip hop artist ODB did in the mid-90s when he took MTV cameras along with him as he rolled up to an office in a limo to receive food stamps, even as his group Wu Tang Clan was one of the best-selling music acts in the country. 

But the abuses of the Bridge Card add up and hurt the system, placing a huge burden on the state at a time when poverty has taken hold of the local area and many people are having trouble simply paying heating bills, let alone buying enough food to stay healthy. 

“There are people and families who are really in need which is why the Bridge Card was created, I’ve been hearing so many stories so we need to make sure they’re able get the proper help and the program can work the way it was designed,” the cafe owner said.