South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
Record numbers in Florida now receiving food stamps
By Mike Clary

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

October 23, 2008

Like most professionals with good jobs, Sandra Kramer never thought it would happen to her. But when she lost her major client and used savings to pay down a pile of medical bills, she had no choice.

Kramer applied for food stamps.

"Here I am, 61, and never been in this position before," said Kramer, a sales representative who lives in Sunrise. "I was hesitant. There is a stigma attached, like you're not doing your part.

"But I know it's not just me."

It's not. With unemployment on the rise, and economic problems deepening, a record number of Floridians now receive food stamps. And the rolls are growing by the month. According to the Florida Department of Children & Families, more than 1.6 million Florida residents received the federal vouchers in September. That includes more than 120,000 in Broward County, who got more than $12 million to spend on groceries, and almost 69,000 in Palm Beach County who received more than $7 million.

The number of recipients has climbed 20 percent in Broward in the past year and is up almost 26 percent in Palm Beach County.

The figures for Miami-Dade County: 337,485 recipients in September, granted vouchers worth more than $33 million. That's up 15 percent from a year ago."The percentage increase we're seeing today is directly tied to losing jobs and not being able to meet the food budget anymore," said Jennifer Lange, director of DCF's food stamp program, referring to a client caseload that has soared past enrollment peaks reached after major hurricanes in 2004 and 2005.

Thanks to the economic crisis, a benefit once associated chiefly with the jobless and homeless is now increasingly sought by the working poor.

"This cuts across economic lines to hit people who never thought they would be asking for government assistance," said Leslie Mann, a spokeswoman for DCF in Broward County. "There should be no stigma right now to making an application."

Joblessness — and hunger — brought Leo Garcia, 42, his wife, Isabel, 32, and their two children to a DCF service center in a busy strip mall west of Lake Worth last week. They began receiving food stamps earlier this year after the firm where he worked as a carpenter went out of business, and Isabel's employer, a day care center, closed.

Adjacent to the DCF office, the West Palm Beach family stopped at a storefront food bank to find this sign posted on the locked door: "We are very sorry, but due to lack of funds we will not be able to help as often."

Isabel Garcia accepted the news stoically. "As long as [DCF] helps us, and we get some formula and cereal, we'll find a way," she said.

Outside another DCF service center last week in Lauderhill, Ann Chappell, 48, carefully climbed back on her bicycle after a meeting in which she sought an explanation for a cut in her monthly benefit from $162 to $125.

"I have to make some tough choices," said Chappell, who lost her job as a cashier after fracturing her right leg in a traffic accident. She has been living on food stamps for a year and a half, she said, while getting day-old bread at a West Palm Beach church.

"I pass up fresh juices and produce," Chappell said. "You might think that [a $37 reduction] is not a lot, but it is."

The first American food stamp program began in the 1930s, during the Great Depression. The current program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, was initiated in 1977. The maximum benefit for a family for four is $588 a month.

As of Oct. 1, the name of the Food Stamp Program was changed to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

In fact, there have not been any food stamps as such for at least four years. Rather, recipients are issued a plastic electronic benefit card that works like a debit card at authorized grocery stores.

Sandra Kramer has not yet been approved for help. While looking for steady work, she has taken temporary jobs, such as caring for the pets of friends.

For one recent cat-sitting assignment, she was paid with a Publix gift card.

"There was a time when, if I wanted a steak, I bought a steak," Kramer said last week as she emerged from the supermarket with a couple of carefully considered purchases. "I can't do that now.

"I am totally past that how-could-this-happen-to-me state. Now, it is what it is. I'm in a position now where I can't be too proud."

Mike Clary can be reached at mwclary@sunsentinel.com or at 305-810-5007.

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