Thirty-five years ago, as the year 1976 began, the Globe
Times reported that amendments to the Food Stamp Act of 1964 were about to go
into effect in Pennsylvania. Families receiving food stamps no longer had to
purchase a portion of the food stamps, which on average required paying for
half the food stamps allocated. Also the
stamps were no longer tied to food surpluses. In 1976 one in every fourteen
Americans used food stamps. To be eligible the maximum income a family four
could have was $542 a month or $6,540 a year. At or below this income level the
family would receive $192 a month in food stamps. Therefore a family with
income of $542 a month paid $96 for their $192 worth of food stamps.
During the Great
Depression, the increase in unemployed workers resulted in both a surplus of
food and larger number of hungry Americans. As people were starving, farmers
were burning their surplus corn for fuel. In 1933 the U.S. government found a
way to pay farmers for their surplus food then transport the food to the
families that needed it. This was a revolutionary idea, as never before did the
Federal Government offered food to the poor. Up until this point local
communities were responsible for taking care of the less fortunate.
The agency, Federal Surplus Relief
Corporation (FSRC) was created to administer the new program. The effort gave much needed assistance to
those citizens who needed it but there were problems. People had to walk miles
to the closest food site and wait hours for the truck to arrive with one-pound
cans of beef or pork, bags of dried beans, flour, cornmeal and occasionally
butter and fresh fruit. Garments were also provided, manufactured by the WPA.
The food allotments arrived monthly and consisted of the food that happened to
be in surplus at the time. Supply was not guided by what was good
nutritionally. The creation of a food stamp program in 1939 corrected many of
these problems. One could use food stamps
at the local grocery store to purchase food items and government surplus foods.
Today the food
stamp program is called SNAP, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Eligible individuals or families are given an electronic benefits card that
works like a debit card that you use at grocery stores. Your food stamp
benefits are loaded onto your card depending on your benefits, which can range
from $2 to over $1502 a month. To receive food stamps you need to meet
requirements such as having less than $5,000 in assets. A family of four cannot
earn more than $2,297 a month. That family would receive $668 a month for food.
According to the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh
Valley, in 2009, there was a 40% increase in use of food stamps by the
residents of Northampton County and a 23% increase in Lehigh County. In 2010
12% of the population in Lehigh County received food stamps and 9.2% in
Northampton County. This is a direct result of more people suffering from unemployment.
In Northampton County unemployment rose 63% affecting 9.0% of the residents and
in Lehigh County it rose 57% leaving 9.2% out of work in 2010. Second Harvest
formed a partnership with Bethlehem food banks such as New Bethany Ministries,
Holy Bethlel Pentecostal, Concordia Lutheran, Trinity Episcopal, Moravian Food
Bank and many others to feed thousands of our neighbors each day. The Animal Food Bank Services in Hellertown
takes care of the pets during hard times for their owners.
You can apply for SNAP benefits on-line at:
www.humanservices.state.pa.us/Compass.Web/CMHOM.aspx
or in person at (Lehigh County) Lehigh County Assistance Office, 101 South 7th
Street, Allentown, or (Northampton County) Northampton County Assistance
Office, 201 Larry Holmes Drive, Easton.
