Many Miss Out on Food Stamps

Hugo Perdomo went to a food pantry once. He got off his late shift job at 7 a.m., got to the pantry well before it was to stop handing out bags of free food and then waited and waited.

After an hour, exhausted from lack of sleep, he could take no more and left with nothing but his intact pride--until he realized he had no food in his Los Angeles home to feed his children.

On a recent sun-drenched morning, Perdomo, 40, sat in his living room applying for food stamps, still a proud man, but one who now recognizes that the benefits will fill a gap that his wages as a janitor cannot bridge.

He is part of a national campaign to enroll more families in the food stamp program, as evidence mounts that millions of Americans lack adequate supplies of food.

In California, more than 1.7 million people receive a monthly allotment of food stamps, which come in bundles of $10, $5 and $1 denominations that can be used like cash at grocery stores and supermarkets. But recent studies indicate that an additional 1.8 million Californians actually qualify for the federal benefits but are not receiving them for a variety of reasons.

Many are like Perdomo, a hard-working father of four whose financial circumstances changed for the worse three years ago when his wife died after a brief illness. Perdomo never thought about seeking government aid. The paperwork and time needed to apply were a hassle, not to mention the humiliation of asking for what he perceived to be a handout.

The push now is to get the word out to potential food stamp beneficiaries and ease the exhaustive application process. Experts say those efforts are especially important in Southern California, where many families experience the tensions of low wages and high living costs.

Food stamp rolls have dropped steeply over the last five years--down 55% in Orange County, 49% in Ventura County and 36% in Los Angeles County, according to California Food Policy Advocates, a nonprofit group that seeks to combat hunger.

Some former welfare recipients become ineligible for food stamps as they get jobs and their incomes rise. But many who are employed remain eligible, and critics say government agencies are not doing enough to inform them, especially in the face of a softening economy.

To reverse the declining participation rate, the U.S. Department of Agriculture early this year awarded more than $3.6 million in grants to 14 organizations nationwide for outreach programs.

In California, the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank and Los Angeles-based Asian Pacific Health Care Venture Inc. are using their grants to target the elderly, immigrants, non-English-speaking residents and others who may be unaware of the availability of food stamps.

Many immigrants are fearful that applying for benefits might jeopardize their status or attract the attention of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

To qualify for food stamps, the gross monthly income for most families must be 130% or less of the federal poverty guideline, or about $1,533 per month for a family of three. The average monthly food stamp benefit, according to the USDA, is $73 per person and $173 per household, which can make a crucial difference for poor families.

Based on a recent survey, the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services estimates that more than a quarter of middle- and low-income residents don’t have enough food to meet basic nutritional needs. And 10% reported experiencing hunger.

“One of the really telling features of the survey is that for people under the poverty level, the burden really falls on kids,” said Jonathan E. Fielding, county director of public health.

“It has serious implications for health and child development and shows that there is a need that’s clearly not being met, despite the wonderful work of community-based organizations and the free food that’s available.”

The survey, the first of its kind in Los Angeles County, was conducted between September 1999 and April 2000, before the onset of energy woes and the prospect of a flagging economy. More recently, food banks and pantries here and elsewhere have reported that they are struggling to keep up with a growing demand for emergency food, especially among working families.

The Second Harvest food bank in Orange County this year is supplying food to more than 360 soup kitchens, church pantries and senior homes, an increase of about 80 agencies from three years ago.

“We’re thinking it doesn’t take a recession for people to need food,” said development director Nicole Suydam. “We’re really seeing the high cost of living in Orange County affecting the working poor and senior citizens.”

Making Application Process Simpler

As part of the new outreach effort, two staffers from the Los Angeles regional food bank visited the LAX Food Pantry on a gritty block in Inglewood to find potential food stamp applicants. The workers are equipped with laptop computers designed with new software that can quickly compute eligibility.

The food bank will complete applications and submit them to the county, which administers the local food stamp program. That saves applicants at least one trip to the welfare office.

At a small table outside the pantry, under an overcast sky, 59-year-old Myrvis McCord tells outreach worker Mary Huth what has driven her to sit down and apply for the benefits. She is unemployed and raising five children, four of them adopted. She said she spends more than $250 each week for food and sometimes still runs out of milk and juice.

“I paid enough taxes to reap some of these benefits but haven’t bothered to apply,” says McCord, a lean, agile woman whose short, wavy hair is flecked with gray.

Applying for food stamps is like dictating an autobiography, revealing intimate financial and personal details. The questionnaire runs to 10 pages and can take 45 minutes or an hour, depending on family size. Anti-hunger activists say it discourages many potential beneficiaries, and they have lobbied to have it shortened.

Soon, the outlines of McCord’s life emerge. She worked as a security guard before hurting herself on the job a year ago. She has not been able to return to work and currently has no income. She has custody of her grandson, and the other children are his half-siblings, whom she adopted out of foster care so they could remain together.

Her grandson gets a monthly welfare check, and she receives monthly federal adoption assistance for the other children. But that money is barely enough to cover her rent, utility and food bills.

She has $60 in her pocket and $8.61 in her checking account. Huth apologizes for having to ask her if she is running from the law to avoid a felony prosecution or if she’s been convicted of a drug-related felony. Questions about whether she owns stocks and bonds, trust funds or oil or mineral rights elicit a chuckle.

Huth calculates that McCord may qualify for $50 in monthly food stamps--which is not a lot but better than nothing, she says.

“It will help,” says McCord. “It’s amazing what $50 will buy: cold cuts, corn dogs, popcorn, juice. If you shop around you can make do.”

Her local welfare office will make an appointment for her to verify income and bills and she will have to be fingerprinted and photographed.

The fingerprints and photo are to protect against fraud, but critics say it is an imposition that stigmatizes food stamp recipients and has not proven to be cost-effective.

Even officials who administer the food stamp program agree that some streamlining would allow it to reach more people.

“It’s a complex program that requires monthly reporting and I believe that may be a barrier for some of the families out there,” said Patsy Calvert, an administrator of adult programs for the Orange County Department of Social Services. “I think from our perspective, a simplified application process--some simplification in terms of eligibility and looking at the amount of benefits people get--would help.”

During a week of outreach, Huth and her co-workers have encountered many people who don’t know about the program or are ill-informed.

Deciding Between Driving and Eating

Still, they have been able to help nearly 40 people apply, including Perdomo, an immigrant from Guatemala who must decide this month whether to renew his car registration or buy food.

He found out about the food stamp program at a local community center from the mother of outreach worker Alexandra Topete. Because of his work schedule, she arranges to visit his home just west of downtown and help him apply.

It is a moderate-sized, neat two-bedroom in a four-plex on a mean street that has seen gang killings.

Before the death of his wife, Sylvia, from a sudden onset of pancreatitis, Perdomo worked the night shift at a downtown Los Angeles hotel, making $9.29 an hour, and during the day he fixed cars, which provided the supplemental income his family needed to get buy.

Now, when he gets off work he tries to be mother and father to the two teenagers who remain at home, son Nery, 16, a ninth-grader at Belmont High, and daughter Damaris, 15, who attends the West Hollywood Opportunity Center.

“I used to make $200 or $300 extra, but now I can’t do that. I have to take the kids to school and then sleep so I can be ready for them when they come back,” said Perdomo, a quiet man who says parenting classes he took after his wife’s death have helped him become a better father.

Many days, the children, who are friendly and talkative, subsist on the breakfasts, lunches and snacks they receive at school, while Perdomo will eat his main meal free at work. Or they visit relatives, or get tamales on credit from the woman who comes by with a cart.

Topete estimates that the family may qualify for as much as $90 to $100 in monthly food stamps.

When asked what he does when he’s hungry, Nery replied, “I check to see if there’s anything to eat, but if not I just wait till tomorrow.”

This month, Hugo Perdomo has more than $300 in bills, plus $582 in rent, utilities and the car registration fee.

“It’s hard to get through this period,” he says, “but I know this situation won’t last forever.”

Contact Information

The following agencies can provide information on obtaining food stamps:

* Los Angeles County Department of Social Services health and nutrition hotline, toll free at (877) 597-4777. www.lapublichealth.org.

* Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, (323) 234-3030, ext. 180. www.lafightshunger.org.

* Infoline of Los Angeles, for access to help with health and human services in Los Angeles County, (800) 339-6993. www.infoline-la.org.

* For the publication the People’s Guide to Welfare, Health and Other Services, How to Get Food and Money, contact the Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness at (213) 439-1070. www.peoplesguide.org.