SNAP Shots

• Minnesota saw a 19 percent increase in food stamp usage between February 2010 and February 2011, higher than the average national increase of 11.6 percent.

Participation still rising, but more slowly: Nationwide participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or food stamps increased in February 2011 for the 28th consecutive month, although a count of just 11,417 individuals more than January 2011 was the smallest monthly increase since January 2008. In all, 44,199,091 people in the U.S. received SNAP benefits this past February. Approximately one in seven Americans now relies on food stamps.

Extra benefits increase food security: Supplemental SNAP benefits contained in the February 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), also known as the stimulus legislation, were successful in retarding the growth of food insecurity among low-income Americans during the recent recession, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Fall Minnesota Hunger Fund Drive

Food shelves and friends, please mark your calendars for September. HSM AND Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless are bringing back the successful Open Your Heart Challenge Grant for a second year.

• LEVERAGED BUYING POWER ` The 2010 Open Your Heart Challenge grant allowed food shelves to bring in an additional $1 million to purchase food.

Open Your Heart has created a new $100,000 challenge grant that will match monetary donations to participating Minnesota food shelves during the month of September. Grant funds will enable food shelves to obtain more food for people in need and raise awareness of hunger within our state. The match for each food shelf will be proportional to the amount donated by community members, so the more you give in September, the larger your food shelf’s grant will be!

A political stunt with low income people used as the punchline.

• But advocates for low-income Minnesotans don’t think it is funny.

The Minnesota Majority has adopted a novel approach to oppose Gov. Mark Dayton’s budget plans.

The gimmick is a “Soup Truck” driven by Rick Brock around various Minnesota cities offering free chicken-flavored Instant Lunch soup, along with pocket copies of the U.S. Constitution and opportunities to donate to local food shelves.

“It’s degrading to people who are needing assistance in our state. It’s horrible,” said Colleen Moriarty, executive director of the advocacy group Hunger Solutions. “We’ve alerted our network that we’re really not interested in any kind of trick like this.

“It’s some attempt at humor, I guess, that makes fun of people who are needing the help of food shelves and others,” Moriarty said. “It’s just nothing we’d want to be involved in at all.”

Patrick Ness, policy director at the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless, said the “Economic Survival Guide” was inappropriate in a time when many families are struggling with hunger.

“To link a tax proposal with soup lines as the budget is cutting the very basic needs of people who are homeless and living in poverty — it’s really offensive and really out of touch,” Ness said. “People are in soup lines right now, and it’s not funny.”

Recent news:

• Stretch your fresh & local food dollar.

  As many farmers’ markets across the state open for the season this weekend, more Minnesota families will have access to fresh, locally grown food. Several markets will now accept payment from the federal food support program, or “food stamps,” thanks to a joint effort between state agencies, farmers’ markets and local foundations.

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• St. Cloud Food shelves see steady demand

  The economy might be recovering, but rising gas and food prices are keeping demand steady at St. Cloud’s food shelves.

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• Sad choice for many Minnesota parents, preschool or groceries

  The recession seems to have had a negative effect on early childhood education programs in Minnesota. According to a report released Tuesday by the National Institute for Early Education Research, over the past nine years, enrollment in state-funded programs such as Head Start and Early Head Start has dropped by about 17 percent for 3- and 4-year-olds.

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