FUELLED BY rising unemployment and food prices, the number of Americans on food stamps is poised to exceed 30 million for the first time this month, surpassing the historic high set in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina.
The figures will put the spotlight on the hunger issue when Congress begins deliberations on a new economic stimulus package, said legislators and poverty advocates, predicting that any stimulus bill will include a boost in food stamp benefits.
Advocates are also optimistic that President-elect Barack Obama, who made campaign promises to end childhood hunger and whose mother once briefly received food stamps, will make the issue a priority next year.
Breaking the symbolically important 30 million mark comes on the heels of government data that showed that 11.9 million people went hungry in America at some point last year. That included nearly 700,000 children, up more than 50 per cent from the year before. Food pantries and other charitable organisations are also reporting an increase in demand from those in need.
Visits to local pantries are up anywhere from 20 per cent to 100 per cent over the last six months, and calls to the Capital Area Food Bank's hunger hotline have jumped 248 per cent.
Most are from people who have never used food stamps or a pantry before, said Lynn Brantley, the organisation's president and CEO.
Analysts attribute the jump primarily to rising unemployment, which hit 6.5 per cent in October and is predicted to increase to 8 per cent by the end of 2009, but rising food costs are also a factor.
Although prices have fallen from the astronomic levels of last spring, they remain high.
In the 12 months ending in September, the cost of food overall jumped 7.6 per cent.
Staples such as eggs and bread rose even faster.
For low-income families, who spend a higher percentage of their monthly budget on food, that rise has been particularly painful.
Food stamp benefits are adjusted for inflation only once a year, and as of September the maximum benefit fell $64 a month short of the cost of the thriftiest, US Department of Agriculture established diet for a family of four.
"At a time when we have more people turning to the food stamp programme, it is less and less able to meet their basic food needs," said Stacy Dean, the research centres director of food assistance policy.
To qualify for food stamps programme, whose name officially changed last month to the Simplified Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), recipients must have an income below 130 per cent of the federal poverty level, or less than $27,560 for a family of four.
The benefits, which average about $4 per person per day, are based on a plan set by the government to represent a low-cost but nutritionally adequate diet.
Participants apply locally to receive an electronic card that is used like an ATM card to buy food at most grocery stores and some farmers' markets.