BANGOR (AP) – The number of Mainers who receive food stamps has grown by 50 percent in recent years, while the number of pupils getting free or reduced school lunches has also risen, according to a new study.
The report, “Poverty in Maine 2006,” was written by the University of Maine’s Margaret Chase Smith Center.
“Poverty is persistent…It’s pervasive, and it’s statewide,” Charles Newton, executive director of Penquis Community Action Program, said at the organization’s Bangor headquarters, where the report was unveiled. “It’s also personal. These are people we all know.”
The report found that the number of food stamp recipients has risen 50 percent between 2002 and 2005, with the biggest jumps occurring in Hancock and Knox counties.
About 16 percent of all households statewide received food stamps on a monthly average last year, the report said. In Washington and Somerset counties, more than 21 percent of households received food stamps last year.
The increase is attributed to a number of factors, including higher energy prices, simplification of the application process, and the replacement of traditional paper food stamps with a debit-card system, which is thought to have reduced the stigma of using the state assistance, the report said.
The report also showed a steady increase in the number of Maine students eligible for free or reduced-cost school lunch programs. The numbers have risen from about 64,000 students in 2002 to 69,000 in 2005.
Statewide, about 33 percent of all pupils were eligible. About half the students in Piscataquis and Washington counties were eligible, while the number was 22 percent in Cumberland County.
The study also said the number of households participating in the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program for heating assistance also jumped last year.
The report said about 46,000 households used the program in fiscal 2004-2005, up from 44,000 the previous year.
About 9 percent of all Maine households participated in the program last year. On the county level, rates ranged from a low of 3 percent in Cumberland County to more than 18 percent in Washington, Franklin and Aroostook counties.
The report also made note that Maine’s average monthly unemployment rate last year was 4.8 percent, which was below the national average of 5.1 percent.
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