John Gardner could always count on the seasonal ebb and flow of food stamp applications. In September, the Flathead County Office of Public Assistance would swell with people in need of aid after their summer jobs ended. Five months later, the office always grew quiet again.
But when the recession hit last year, the tide turned. Applications didn’t slow in February, or March, or April for that matter.
“We have been the busiest we’ve ever been in the last 10 months,” Gardner, who has been director of Flathead County OPA for 32 years, said.
In July, the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services announced that 100,000 people in Montana were receiving federal aid in the form of food stamps, which was renamed the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in October 2008. And judging by the volume of applicants he sees, Gardner believes residents in the Flathead could make up the largest portion of that number.
“We’re seeing more applications than anywhere else, per worker, in the state,” he said.
In May 2008, Gardner said there were 6,065 Flathead County residents on SNAP, and the federal government paid out $585,201 to recipients. This May, the number of people receiving aid jumped to 9,070, and monthly issuance more than doubled to $1,163,217. Monthly intakes have spiked from 300 to 600, he said, with a high percentage of those being approved.
“Our economy fell off a cliff,” Gardner said. “People who had seasonal employment have nothing now. People who were marginally employed can’t find a job now. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
SNAP, which is run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, now issues plastic cards much like debit cards instead of paper food vouchers. After federal funds are deposited into a participant’s account via the Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT), they are free to swipe the card wherever SNAP is accepted.
Gardner said Montana was one of the last states to implement the federal mandate, which requires retailers to become SNAP-certified through the Food and Nutrition Service. Since it’s easier and there’s twice as much in SNAP benefits flowing into the valley, he said, most retailers accept the EBT card.
“It’s in every grocer’s best interest,” Gardner said. “They used to have to bundle up the stamps and send them in to get credit. Now, a customer just swipes the card and bingo.”
At the new Super 1 Foods on First Avenue East in Kalispell, store manager Tracy Fleck said they have noticed an increase in food stamp usage, although the store just opened its doors in June. Fleck previously worked at the Super 1 in Columbia Falls, and said she saw the hike in SNAP participants there.
In October 2008, Harvest Foods in Bigfork registered $9,458.77 in food stamp sales, according to store manager Marcus Balgos. In April of this year, he reported that number increased to $20,830, and just last month the number rose again to $25,262.68.
But Balgos said even though the numbers show an obvious boost in the amount of SNAP card sales from last year to this year, the jump could be due to tourism.
“I know Bigfork is busy in the summer,” he said. “I know tourists come here, but do they use cards like that?”
Gardner said SNAP cards can be used anywhere, no matter the state of issuance.
One of the difficulties many stores have in assessing SNAP card usage is that they now function identically to credit and debit cards. Barb Smith at Rosauers’ corporate office in Washington said the grocery chain has experienced an increase in EBT usage, but since debit cards are also categorized under EBT, she could not say how much of the increase could be attributed to food stamps.
While it may be tough for retailers to pinpoint how much their stores are benefiting from SNAP, the switch from paper coupons to a debit-like card was a welcome change for most participants.
“It’s much less stigmatizing to hand out a card than to have to fish food stamps out of your wallet,” Gardner said. “Clients in the old days would wait until midnight (to go shopping).”
To participate in SNAP, a household’s gross monthly income must be 130 percent or less of the federal poverty guidelines – about $1,907 per month for a family of three, according to the USDA. Gardner said the maximum amount of money a household can receive per month is $668. But a family of four that grosses $2,000 per month would get less than that, he said, only around $100 a month.
Nancy Roberts, Flathead County’s Montana State University Extension Office nutrition educator for SNAP, said she often overhears people in the grocery store line explaining to the cashier why they’re on food stamps.
“When they go to pay, I’ll be behind them, and they’ll say ‘It’s because of the economy I had to get these,’” she said, adding that it sounds like they are ashamed of their predicament, and they don’t need to be.
Roberts, 54, who conducts a nutrition education class each week for people on SNAP, is no stranger to food stamps. As a 23-year-old with two kids in the midst of a divorce, she went on the federal program while living in Missouri. She recalled dressing herself and her children nicely the first time she used food stamps at a local grocery store.
“I got $438,” Roberts said. “I thought I was rich.”
After unloading her basketful of food at the checkout counter, she reached for the package of stamps. The older woman at the counter looked at her and her children’s tidy appearance and said, “Are you really supposed to have those?”
Roberts said she left her groceries and ran out of the store crying. After that, she would drive all the way to a different town to go shopping.
“I remember the stigma,” she said. “It’s not a good thing.”
Roberts, who has worked as the SNAP nutrition educator for almost two years, can be found at the county health department, the OPA and area food banks recruiting people for her class. Sometimes she hands out yogurt parfaits, other times she advertises on bulletin boards. She has definitely noticed that OPA’s and the Health Department’s waiting rooms are very full these days.
Roberts’ class meets at Bethlehem Lutheran Church from 6:30 to 8:45 p.m. on Mondays, where she goes over the different food groups, menu planning, and how to stretch the food stamp dollar. She also provides all of the food and a lesson on nutrition. The group then cooks a meal and eats it together.
Roberts said all of the people she has encountered thus far in the program have been nothing but courteous and kind, including the atmosphere in county offices.
“A lot of us would be in the same boat if we didn’t have jobs,” she said.
The Office of Public Assistance is open 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday through lunch. Intake hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Gardner said the earlier people arrive the better.