Sunday, May 31, 2009
CLEVELAND (AP) — Ohioans are increasingly turning to food stamps to make ends meet as the state’s economy worsens.
Figures show than one in seven people in Cuyahoga County, Ohio’s most populous county, received food stamps in February, an 8 percent increase from one year ago.
Across the state, 16 percent more people received food stamps during February than a year earlier.
Nationally, 32.6 million people received assistance in February from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the formal name for food stamps, the highest number in the program’s history.
The federal economic stimulus package increased maximum food-stamp benefits by 13.6 percent in April. Of the $19.3 billion that was allotted to fund the increase through 2013, $756 million is going to people in Ohio.
Tonia Burnett of Maple Heights in suburban Cleveland often worked 60-hour weeks as a direct-care assistant to provide for herself and her three young children.
Then the economy turned sour and Burnett, who makes $9 an hour, could no longer get overtime at the group home where she works.
Over the past few months the 40-year-old single mom has turned to food stamps and other government benefits to get by.
Burnett, who gets about $138 a month in food stamps, also volunteers at the Bridge of Hope food pantry in Cleveland on Friday nights. She brings along her 5-year-old son, R.J. Simpson, so he can see the importance of helping others.
The pantry is now serving 1,000 people per month, an increase of more than 100 people from its average last year, according to Billie Hill, who runs the program.
Statewide, the number of people served at Ohio food pantries increased 29 percent in March compared with the same month last year, said Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Food Banks.
She attributed the rise to the increased number of people being laid off or seeing their hours reduced at work.
Ohio’s unemployment rate was 10.2 percent last month, the first time the figure has hit double digits in more than 25 years.
When unemployment rises, food-stamp applications soon follow, said Joe Gauntner, director of Cuyahoga County Employment & Family Services.