William H. McMichael, Jon Offredo and James Fisher

The News Journal

Each Delaware community experienced different problems.

In New Castle County, it was the loss of good-paying jobs. In Smyrna, thousands of newcomers seeking an affordable life stumbled into economic troubles. In Rehoboth Beach, younger workers and seniors struggled to make ends meet.

In each, increasingly, many Delawareans needed help with food.

The number of state residents receiving food stamps has nearly tripled over the past 10 years, far outpacing the relatively small increase of 14 percent in population.

For Joyce Robertson, 68, of Wilmington, it began in 2004, when she was forced to become legal guardian to her two granddaughters. "I've been on food stamps ever since," she said.

"When I go to the grocery store, if I get a family pack of chicken wings, it's $12-and-something out of the $99," she said. "So I split it and try to make two meals. Whatever they got on sale, I try to get it. And the rest, I go to a dollar store and get dollar hot dogs, and stuff like that."

Robertson says she can't afford to buy the juice and vegetables she knows her granddaughters need for a well-rounded diet. There's a food pantry at the nearby St. Patrick's Center, which provides emergency food for those in need. But demand is high and the pickings, she said, are sometimes slim.

"You got to get there, like, 6 o'clock in the morning, to sign up, because there's a great big line," she said. "And if you don't get there that early ... there may be nothing left. There might be one orange, or one apple."

The News Journal obtained data from the Department of Health and Social Services showing the number of food stamp recipients in each ZIP code around the state for 2003 and 2013. The data show where food stamp use has increased the most, but every county experienced an increase of at least 97 percent.

In New Castle County's 19713 ZIP code south of Newark, the population fell 2.7 percent, yet the number of food stamp recipients increased 299 percent. In Kent's 19977 in Smyrna, the population grew by an astounding 70 percent, while the food stamp population increased 250 percent. In the Rehoboth Beach area of Sussex, where population grew nearly 23 percent, the number of food stamp users skyrocketed 325 percent.

Overall, the state's food stamp rolls grew faster in the past decade, by 196 percent, than the national average of 124 percent. And it far surpassed increases in neighboring Pennsylvania and New Jersey, both of which dwarfed Delaware's rate of population growth.

Simply put, more than 152,000 Delawareans – 17 percent of the population – count on government help to eat. That's up from about 51,000 a decade ago. And the people who oversee food stamps in the state expect demand to remain high despite a healthier U.S. economy.

"As the economy improves, our rate of growth has definitely tapered," said Elaine Archangelo, director of the Delaware Division of Social Services. "But I'm not expecting the caseload to decline in this slow-growth economy."

Economic woes

The food-stamp program is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Congress appropriates money for it in the farm bill. Only the federal government pays for the direct aid, with states picking up about half of the administrative costs.

Currently, this year's food stamp benefits average out to pay $1.40 per person per meal, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. It's not a lot, said Lawana Pipkin of Wilmington, a mother of seven children ages 18 to 2, with another on the way.

"It can become, like, stressful, very depressing," said Pipkin, who one morning last week had no milk for her children's breakfast and was unable to afford more. She was about a week shy of receiving her March food stamps.

Delaware, along with most states, actively encourages those eligible to sign up for food stamps, a benefit provided based on income. And as many states have done, Delaware expanded eligibility in recent years, automatically making households eligible for food benefits if they qualify for welfare.

Archangelo is certain that the change alone doesn't account for the dramatic increase in the number of recipients statewide.

"My opinion is, it's definitely primarily because of the economy," Archangelo said. "Food stamps are a little bit of a precursor of the economy tanking. We started to see the use of food stamps inch up before 2008. The low-income people that we serve tend to lose their jobs first."

The loss of quality jobs, particularly in New Castle County, has contributed to the rise, said Patricia Beebe, CEO of the Food Bank of Delaware, which provides donated food to 477 pantries and programs around the state.

"It's not just the loss of good-paying jobs. It's also what workers are getting paid," she said.

The top industry for employment growth in the state is fast food, said David Grimaldi, New Castle County's cheif administrative officer.

"Fast food don't buy houses," said Tom Gordon, New Castle County executive.

'Filling the gap'

Throughout Delaware, working families aren't earning enough to pay for a basic need – food. Of the 26,700 Delaware families receiving food stamps, half of them had one family member with a job in the last 12 months, and nearly a third had two workers in the household, according to the most recent data available from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Most people using the benefit also are caring for children, with 59 percent of food stamp households reporting at least one child younger than 18. The median income of a Delaware household relying on food assistance last year was $23,104.

About 77 percent of eligible Delawareans actually receive the benefits, according to Matt Talley, food stamp outreach coordinator for the Food Bank of Delaware. The 23 percent who do not receive the benefit – "the most vulnerable people," he called them – often have not even applied.

These, he said, include seniors, many of whom have no access to transportation; Latino and Hispanic households who face additional language barriers; and the working poor – those with an income, but one that isn't enough.

Beebe, who describes her organization as being counted upon to "swoop in and try to put a finger in the dike," said the Food Bank is not catching up to demand.

"There is no way that we can continue to fill the gap," Beebe said.

President Barack Obama's economic stimulus bill in 2009 had increased food stamp benefits around the country for several years. But an effort in Congress to extend that last year couldn't overcome opposition from Republicans who said the benefits were ineffective and the system vulnerable to fraud.

"As long as we continue to follow that pattern," said Dan Reyes, who coordinates the Food Bank's Coalition to End Hunger, "we're just going to keep chipping away at a program that's designed to stimulate the economy while need increases."

Contact James Fisher at (302) 983-6772, on Twitter @JamesFisherTNJ or jfisher@delawareonline.com. Contact Jon Offredo at (302) 678-4271 or at joffredo@delawareonline.com. Follow him on Twitter @jonoffredo. Contact William H. McMichael at (302) 324-2812 or bmcmichael@delawareonline.com. On Twitter: @billmcmichael.