Flash player is required to view weather conditions. Download

site web  

HAMILTON — When Ed Jackson moved from what used to be the one-light rural town of Mason to the bright lights of Hamilton, he brought his ideas of apprehension toward to government. As a child of the 1960s, he explained, it wasn't uncommon to distrust the government and its services to citizens.

Now the 54-year-old Fairfield resident and Serve City volunteer has had a change of heart. With the help of a program, Jackson qualified for food stamps and Medicare. The assistance has helped since he's out of work, he said.

"I thought about it (applying for food stamps). I thought it would (be) worth it for the amount of food stamps I could get," Jackson said. "People are intimidated with having to deal with the government in any form and have a fear of the government."

Seated near Serve City's entrance with a Food Stamp Outreach sign on the table, Gloria Bateman answered questions Tuesday morning in an effort to help residents qualify for food stamps through the Butler County Department of Job and Family Services.

BCDJFS has given nearly $47,000 to Shared Harvest Foodbank to fund a portion of the outreach program.

"I like the program because they can do one-stop

shopping at the pantries," said Bateman, who is the program's coordinator. "It's kind of intimidating to go to the Department of Job and Family Services."

Bateman makes several visits at food pantries and social service agencies in Hamilton, Fairfield, Middletown and Oxford each week. She helps residents complete applications and informs them of the needed documents to qualify for food stamps.

Shared Harvest Executive Director Tina Osso said residents who qualify for food stamps live at 200 percent below the federal poverty guideline and need nutritional food.

According to Osso, Bateman informed 10,311 people about the outreach program throughout the county last year. Of that, 2,026 residents inquired to find out if they were eligible for food stamps.

Food Stamp Outreach developed from a hunger forum several years ago. Social service agencies determined that several barriers prevented people from receiving nutritional food, including lack of transportation, lack of knowledge of the food stamp program and the stigma of applying for food stamps.

Shared Harvest officials have expanded the program to food pantries in Warren County. Eventually, they'd like to have the program in every county Shared Harvest serves throughout the Southwest Ohio and parts of Indiana.

"The success of this is the coordination and corroboration with Department of Job and Family Services," Osso said. "Without their willingness to work with us on this program, we couldn't do it."

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2180 or ch

ubbard

@coxohio.com.