There are 239 counties in the United States where at least a quarter of the population receives food stamps. In a study conducted by a team of sociologists from Cornell University and Washington University, nearly half of all U.S. kids will receive government food stamps at some point during their childhood.
With more people losing jobs and facing foreclosure, the "SNAP" foodstamp program is now expanding at a rate of about 20,000 people a day.
However, not all people who need food assistance are receiving it. In a recent Associate Press report, USDA officials indicated that certain states "have not served . . . taxpayers well." The criticism is that although many people are eligible for food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, they do not receive them, in part because there are not people staffing the food stamp offices and processing times are dismal, leaving many people hungry and without benefits.
The biggest problem is that New Jersey where just 59 percent of those who qualify got the benefits. There are apparently not enough caseworkers to handle the applications causes huge delays in the SNAP benefit program.
The USDA issued its annual report on hunger last week, with the dismal news that 17 million Americans have trouble getting enough to eat. It's the highest number recorded since the USDA began keeping track in 1995.
Today, most food-stamp benefits are now distributed using cards but for most of its history the program had actually used paper denominational stamps or coupons worth US$1, US$5, and US$10. The debit card that is now commonly issues holds less of a stigma for people who use the benefits. It is used at point of purchase in the same way that an ATM or bank debit card would be used.
Handing over paper "stamps" was something that made many people feel embarrassed about using food assistance. The United States Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, historically and commonly known as the Food Stamp Program, now helps to reduce the stigma by allowing the benefits to be used via an "EBT" (Electronic Benefits Transfer) card.
With manufacturers closing their doors, unemployment at an all time high (despite reports of the recession ending) and children going hungry, it is a big positive for the country to see that food assistance is needed by many and is a huge helping hand for those who might otherwise go hungry. Those who are not sure if they are eligible can use the USDA benefits pre-screening tool: http://www.snap-step1.usda.gov/fns/
Written by Cheryl Phillips
HULIQ.com
sources: NYTimes, USDA, RedOrbit.com
Posted November 29th, 2009 by Cheryl Phillips
