An increasing trend:From middle class to food stamps
ST. LOUIS (KRT) -- Growing up in Atlanta, Lisa Gray didn't know a thing about food stamps. From time to time, the family did visit a food pantry, but to make a contribution, certainly not to pick up food for themselves.
She, her mother, father and brother did just fine on her dad's salary as an aerospace engineer.
These days, however, Gray, a working mother of three, has joined a rapidly growing number of Americans who over the past four years have come to depend on both food stamps and food pantries.
Since 2000, Gray and more than 6 million other Americans have joined the ranks of the millions of American families who find it increasingly difficult to perform a most basic function -- to put food on their tables.
Following a seven-year decline, the number of Americans on food stamps has shot up 39 percent since 2000, according to federal statistics. Every state, except Hawaii, has felt the impact. In Arizona, food stamp rolls have increased 104 percent, in Nevada, 97 percent; Oregon, 79 percent; South Carolina, 68 percent; Missouri, 65 percent.
(snip)
http://www.dominionpost.com/a/news/2004/12/27/caaa/