Food Stamp Program Enrollment

Posted on January 11, 2010 by townsend

• Food stamp use soars, By Keyonna Summers, January 9, 2010, Florida Today: “The gnawing feeling of an empty stomach is something Neville Durant became accustomed to after losing his job as a restaurant cook two years ago. Though he searched daily for work to support himself and his paraplegic brother, jobs were scarce. The latest unemployment rate in Brevard County hit 11.9 percent. In August, Durant signed up for food stamps. ‘I never thought I would have to turn to food stamps,’ said Durant, 45, of Cocoa. ‘You think things will get better but then you turn to that point of desperation . . . when your stomach starts growling. You can’t go out looking for a job starving.’ Durant said food stamps have helped give him peace of mind. There’s food in the house. And he’s not alone. There are about 30,000 households in Brevard County currently receiving food stamps — a number that’s tripled in the past decade and more than doubled in just the past four years. Nearly 9,000 families signed up in the past year alone…”
• Use of food stamps soars in Vermont, By Tim Johnson, January 10, 2010, Burlington Free Press: “Vermonters using food stamps have increased nearly 80 percent over the last four years, and about 1 in 8 state residents now relies on this federally funded program. But Vermont’s food-security profile also includes two other noteworthy statistics:
  • About one-fourth of the people eligible for food stamps — now known as 3SquaresVT — have not signed up. That’s according to a national survey of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which put Vermont’s participation rate at 73 percent (compared to a national average of 66 percent).
  • Of those in Vermont who are receiving food assistance, about 1 in 12 has no other source of income. The number of Vermonters depending solely on 3SquaresVT totaled 7,139 in November, according to the Department of Children and Families, which administers the program…”