El Pasoans Feast On Food Stamps
At Least One In Five El Pasoans Relied On Food Stamps In March

1 in 5 El Pasoans Use Food Stamps
Jacob Rascon-KFOX14 News Reporter
Updated: 9:54 pm MDT May 4, 2011



EL PASO, Texas -- The number of Americans relying on food stamps rose 10 percent this year, and more Texans use the federal food benefit program than any other state, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

One in five El Pasoans uses the program. Combined, they bought more than $20 million in groceries with food stamps in March according to numbers from Texas Health and Human Services.

That number is far greater than the Texas county just larger than El Paso County and the one just smaller, in terms of population.

Travis County, which includes Austin, has about 1,024,000 residents compared with about 801,000 in El Paso, but only 112,000 of them use food stamps compared with more than 170,000 in the Borderland.
Collin County just north of Dallas has about 784,000 residents, only about 38,000 of which used food stamps in March.

In summary, more than 20 percent of El Pasoans use food stamps compared with only about 11 percent in Travis County and 5 in Collin County.

Two big differences between the three counties are the Hispanic population and the per capita personal income. Eighty percent of El Pasoans are Hispanic, according to the latest U.S. census data. Hispanics are not the majority in Collin and Travis counties.

Per capita income for Travis County is about $41,000 compared with close to $30,000 in El Paso and $46,000 in Collin County as of 2009, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

KFOX-14 talked to El Pasoans who said Borderland has more food stamp users than others because it is a border town.

"They want to take advantage of benefits on this side of the border," Hairo Reyes of central El Paso said. His mother, Lorenza has been using food stamps since last year.

"I always worked," Lorenza Reyes said in Spanish."Now I'm disabled. I have diabetes and I'm alone."

Lorenza said she is very grateful for the food stamp program, which has allowed her to continue to eat healthy after she became unable to work. But she also said she thinks the program isn't always used properly.
"We're in this great country of opportunity and a lot of people will abuse that," Lorenza said. "And Hispanics by nature have very large families that sometimes they can't support."

KFOX-14 met other El Pasoans who have been using the program for more than a decade, including Gloria Vargas.

"If the parents aren't residents, [Texas Health and Human Services] will give them help for their children," Vargas said. She said she has been receiving food benefits for 15 years, since her son was born.
Another El Paso woman told KFOX-14 that she has received benefits since her son was born 17 years ago.

The only Texas county with a higher concentration of food stamp users than El Paso is HIdalgo County, also along the border.


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