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Storms may have spurred jump in food-stamp use

A 10-percent spike in food-stamp redemptions at military commissaries is likely a lingering aftereffect of Hurricane Katrina and other storms, commissary officials said.

Across the commissary system, food-stamp redemptions were up by about $2.3 million, to $26.2 million in fiscal 2006 compared to the previous year.

Officials have not definitively verified the causes for the spike, said Defense Commissary Agency spokesman Kevin Robinson, but three stores affected by Hurricane Katrina and other storms accounted for about 83 percent of the increase, at levels that were five or six times the previous year’s redemptions for those stores.

Those commissaries, which usually are not close to the top of the list when it comes to quantities of food stamps, were in the top five of all commissaries. Fort Polk, La., had the highest total of all.

At Fort Polk, where a number of people were evacuated after the storm, the commissary rang up $973,544 worth of food-stamp redemptions in fiscal 2006, five times the previous year’s total of $190,682.

The fiscal years run from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30; Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in August 2005.

The New Orleans Naval Air Station store, which is relatively small, redeemed $687,585 worth of food stamps in fiscal 2006, nearly six times its 2005 total of $116,329. It ranked number five among commissaries for food-stamp redemptions in 2006.

The Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., store, ranked fourth in fiscal 2006, ringing up $716,756 in food-stamp redemptions, more than five times its 2005 total of $134,425.

Areas that were devastated by the storms saw a general surge in food-stamp use, said Jean Daniel, a spokeswoman for the Agriculture Department, which administers the Food Stamp Program. A disaster food-stamp program operated in conjunction with the states relaxes the eligibility rules for those affected, recognizing that people have lost not only all or part of their homes, but their food, possibly their income, and often their identification.

In addition, an Agriculture Department policy also relaxes eligibility requirements to allow those who have evacuated to another state to qualify for food stamps.

The Food Stamp Program increases the food purchasing power of low-income families and individuals by providing electronic benefits redeemed, generally with a debit card, for food in authorized stores. Local social services agencies generally implement the program and determine whether people qualify, based on factors such as income and family size. The military housing allowance bumps most military families above the income-eligibility requirements.

A spot check of some county offices that administer food-stamp programs near large military bases indicates that the percentage of military families on food stamps is generally low, and hasn’t changed much over the last few years. County officials interviewed said they do not track the numbers of military families on food stamps.

In Jefferson County, N.Y., home of Fort Drum, those associated with the military are less than 1 percent of the population on food stamps, said Patricia Connelly, commissioner of social services for the county. While they don’t track specific numbers of military families on food stamps, she said, those who qualify are mostly those on the periphery of military families — such as the brother who hasn’t found a job yet, and has come to live with the military family temporarily.

“I think the military does a pretty good job with its lower-ranking enlisted families,” she said. “We really don’t see those numbers.”