Number of Georgia families using food stamps skyrockets

A skyrocketing number of Georgia families are collecting food stamps, another sign that more people are having trouble putting food on the table in these difficult economic times.

The state has generated about 10,000 new food-stamp cases a month since July, state officials said Thursday.

Georgia had a total of 468,848 food-stamp cases in October, the most recent figure available, a jump of 73,153 cases — or 18.4 percent — above the year before. Each case can include one person or an entire household, so the actual number of people receiving the assistance is considered higher, officials said.

“That is far and above what we’ve seen in the past,” said Mark Washington, the head of the state Division of Family and Children Services, which manages the food-stamp program.

Georgia distributed $130 million in food stamps in October, officials said.

In fiscal 2000, the average number of people using food stamps each month was 236,329 and has risen steadily since that year. In fiscal 2007, the average number per month was 385,932.

Washington said Georgia’s sour economy — with its rising unemployment and rampant foreclosures — will probably continue to push higher the number of people receiving food stamps. The food stamp program is the state’s major anti-hunger initiative.

Georgia largely mirrors the national picture. The economic crisis has brought the number of families relying on food stamps to an unprecedented 31.6 million, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Experts and advocates say food-stamp recipients are changing and now include not only the poor person who regularly turns to public assistance but also working-class families who are collecting food stamps for the first time.

“These people have had some success in life. They have maybe six months of savings,” said Sharon Maddox, who manages support programs, such as helping people apply for food stamps, for the St. Vincent de Paul Society of north Georgia. “They don’t have much of a cushion.”

Advocates say they are seeing car salesmen, carpenters, factory workers and office workers turning to food stamps.

Radames Colon is looking at a pretty grim Christmas. The 46-year-old Jonesboro resident recently showed up to the job he has held for 11 years with the city of Atlanta, and instead of sending him off to pick up debris off the streets, they handed him a termination letter.

Atlanta plans to cut about 600 jobs this year and slash many city workers’ hours.

Worse for Colon, his fiancee, who lives with him, was laid off about a week before. She was let go due to a reduction in work force at her job as a sales manager at a call center.

Colon had already spent much of his approximately $4,000 in savings during a largely unpaid six-month medical leave for an enlarged heart problem, and now the bills are hitting hard. He is a month behind on the rent and the car payment, he said.

So he has applied for food stamps.

“Things are bad now. That’s what drove me to food stamps,” Colon said. “Bills come fast when no money is coming in.”

The hard times have radically altered their priorities. His fiancee, Iris Pinkney, had wanted to move so she could take her teenage daughter out of the Clayton school system, which lacks accreditation. Now they have more pressing concerns.

Pinkney said she used to have an automatic paycheck donation to the United Way and volunteered during the holidays for the Hosea Feed the Hungry and Homeless events.

“Now I’m a person who needs their help,” she said. “We may be standing on line at Christmas.”

Food stamps are among the broadest social-service programs in that they do not, as other services do, only serve the elderly, or families with children or the disabled. In most cases, a person must be a U.S. citizen and a resident of Georgia. The program is managed by the state but the benefits are paid by the federal government.

Officials said that while the benefits vary, the average amount a household receives is about $275 a month. The eligibility standards require that a household’s resources such as checking and savings accounts, and savings bonds, are limited to a combined value of no more than $2,000.

Some advocates worry that the management of the food-stamp program will suffer, due to the state budget cuts that are occurring due to the bad economy.

On Thursday, DFCS’s Washington announced a new program begun late last month that allows people to apply for food stamps over the Internet. The Compass program has already received 1,300 food-stamp applications, which, if approved, would provide benefits for 2,800 people, officials said. The Web site is compass.ga.gov.

People can file an application from any computer, including libraries, food pantries and other charities.

“We’re having to do more with less,” Washington said of the combination of increased cases and budget cuts.

Staff writer Chandler Brown contributed to this report.