The Federal Government announced yesterday that one in every ten Americans have received food stamps. This now means that 32.2 million Americans receive food stamps. I was reading about this increase in foood stamp enrollment and I started to wonder how many New York State Young Democrats either have ever heard about food stamp or how many of our members actually receive food stamps?
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture “The Food Stamp Program helps people with little or no income buy nutritious food. Food stamp benefits are not cash. They come on an electronic EBT card that you use like a bank card to buy food. Most grocery stores take food stamp benefits. To get food stamp benefits, your income and other resources have to be under certain limits”.
Generally speaking if your gross monthly income is $1,107.00 or less, you will most likely be eleigible for food stamps. If you would like to see if you might be eligible to get food stamps, visit www.foodstamps-step1.usda.gov . If you would like to find your local food stamp office please call 1-800-221-5689 or visit www.fns.usda.gov/fsp/outreach/map.htm
For the month of January the average benefit for food stamp recepients (per person) in New York was $112.82. I strongly encourage all New York State Young Democrats to research this program and if you know someone who might be eligible to receive food stamps educate them about the program and try to convince them to join.