There is a special WIC allowance now for fresh fruits and vegetables(excluding, for some reason, white potatoes) Though it is not very much. The Moms should also have a SNAP card(used to be called food stamps) which does allow them to purchase fresh fruits and veggies of all sorts.

They can't get help with soap, toilet paper, or cleaning supplies, which, when you thing about it, are an ongoing expense that is just as necessary as food.

Obviously, there are a lot of people out there begging/panhandling who are just taking advantage, however, the "charities" that serve them tend to give a lot of their money to the people who collect it(how do you think those Salvation Army bellringers get paid?) and a bunch more to their middle class and often over-educated professional staff, so that a relatively small amount of the money you give to
them actually makes it to the people who need it.

All in all, if you give a dollar to a poor person, they get a dollar, but if you give it to a charity for the poor, they get between 20-30 cents.