PHILADELPHIA (4 March 2002, VIDEO 5:17 .rm 28/56/256)- The sub-freezing wind sweeping across the State Building plaza couldn't match this chilling reminder: March 3, 2002, marks the fifth anniversary of welfare reform in the US, reforms that limit public

assistance to a five-year lifetime maximum. The ticking clock of welfare limits will strike five in June, cutting off public assistance to those who have been on welfare since the reforms were instated. Philly's KWRU, fresh from demostrating at the Olympics, rally and lobby the state to not stop the clock, to provide living wage jobs, and not cut medical assistance.

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Philadelphia's Kennsington Welfare Rights Union rallied in Philadelphia on Monday March 4th, one day after the 5 year anniversary of Welfare Reform and the date on which people's 5 year lifetime welfare limit will begin expiring.

KWRU's fiery director Cheri Honkala told the crowd in front of the State Building, “We think it's wrong to have any kind of clock on people putting there lives together.”

Marching thru the nearby intersection, the group headed to buses to take them to confront Welfare Department Head Feather Houston in state capital, Harrisburg.

Joining the KWRU were employees and residents of New Jerusalem, a recovery center. Dependent on medicaid dollars from most of its addicted residents, head Sister Margaret and social Worker Marie said that the welfare 30 day limit was not enough to get most people back on their feet from addiction. State and Federal cuts in medical assistance are putting welfare recipients in the worst-case example of the current US “health care” system, requiring adults to do without such necessities as dental care.