I know its hard, PT. I grew up in deep poverty. We rarely had basics (like stoves and fridges) and even more rarely had wants. But I did somehow (I'm not sure how exactly) live through it all. Of course, a few of the casualties were my sanity and the life of my brother. As a 20 somethinger I never had money either, but I was on my own until 25, so I really never noticed, nor cared...I was perfectly happy with my carefree situation. Of course, that changed when I became pregnant in my sophomore year of college. Being carefree changed, not being poor. I'm terrified of certain things, so I could never apply for state/federal aid (aside from medicaid for my pregnancy and my son's birth). I've been very, very lucky that over the past few years that I've been pulled out of destitution by my wonderful husband.
It sucks to be poor, but I have to share APL's opinion, Freedom means nothing left to lose. Being poor means you cannot go jetting around and buy all the crap you may be inclined to buy, but you can still laugh and cry. You can have friends and family. That doesn't cost any money and having or losing money doesn't take that stuff away.
Edit:
This page has a link to a pdf of the Colorado state food stamp app. You can just print it and fill it out and return it to your local office. That page also has a list of the stuff you need to have ready to take with you.