http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_16441576

More using food stamps in El Paso, statewide
By Diana Washington Valdez \ El Paso Times
Posted: 10/27/2010 12:00:00 AM MDT

The number of food-stamp recipients increased 9.2 percent in two years in El Paso County and 34 percent statewide, according to statistics compiled by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.

And officials said they expect those numbers to continue to increase.

This month, the number of El Pasoans on food stamps stood at 162,796, up from 159,716 in October 2009 and 148,885 in October 2008.

Statewide, the number of food- stamp recipients has reached 1,423,361 up from 1,034,942 for the same period in 2008 -- a 34 percent increase.

Officials with the West Texas Food Bank and Centro de Salud Familiar La Fe said they are also seeing more middle-class families seeking help.

The trend did not show up sooner because Texas entered the recession later than the rest of the nation, said Francis Deviney, an analyst with the Center for Public Policy Priorities in Austin. Economic hard times are also plunging more people into poverty.

"We have a good business climate for business in Texas, but it's also a low-wage state," Deviney said. "About 430,000 additional Texans fell below the poverty line, some of them for the first time.

"Some people went from having two low-paying jobs to one low-paying job, and others did not have the kind of savings needed to cushion the effects of the downturn. The state does not have a big enough safety net to handle the large volumes of people falling into poverty."

Based on recent U.S. Census data, Texas now has the eighth- worst poverty rate (17.2 percent) in the nation. The threshold for poverty is an annual income of $18,310 for a family of three.

The statewide poverty rate was 13.2 percent in 2009, and for El Paso County, it was nearly double at 23.7 percent.

Celeste Hardts, a coordinator for the West Texas Food Bank, said the organization, which serves 22 counties, is in serious need of food donations due to high demand.

"Through surveys that our partner Feeding America conducts, we know that about 200,000 El Pasoans go to bed hungry each day," Hardts said. "These are people who don't have enough money to buy groceries or enough food stamps to last for the whole month. So far this year, we have served 65,000 families or 221,000 individuals. We know we have not seen the peak yet."

At the food bank, officials are seeing soldiers and some city employees asking for food for their families.

Statistics also show that the number of Texas children 5 and younger who receive food-stamp benefits increased to 679,462 this month, up from 543,129 two years ago, a 25 percent jump.

The number of Texans 65 and older on food stamps rose to 195,872 from 163,714 in the same period, a 19.6 percent increase.

"We have more middle-class families than in the past approach us for help or information on how to access public assistance," said Jorge Salazar, La Fe's community health services administrator. "Such families are letting us know they are having trouble. We also know of many families who have moved in with other relatives because of economic reasons. Some families want help for special-needs children or elderly relatives with disabilities."

In some cases, El Pasoans are looking to public assistance to supplement their incomes.

"For example," Salazar said, "we have families who want CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program) so they can drop their private health insurance that they can no longer afford in order to save their houses, which is not a good situation."

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_16441576
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I wonder which ethnic group benefits the most?