Gioia Calls For Greater Food Stamp Accessibility
BY RICHARD GENTILVISO

Gioia is a staunch advocate for food stamp accessibility.

At the first Thanksgiving in 1621, Pilgrims and Native American Indians sat down to a feast of geese, ducks, deer, corn, oysters, fish and berries, giving thanks for a successful harvest. They would not go hungry at the end of that first year in the Plymouth colony.

At Thanksgiving, almost four centuries later, are there hungry people in New York City?

"Hunger? This is New York City, the richest city in the history of the globe," said City Councilmember Eric Gioia. "How many hungry people can there be?" he asked at the November meeting of Community Board 7 in Flushing.

The answer is both alarming and surprising. As many as two million New Yorkers-nearly one in four-are at risk of going hungry every day, according to Gioia, chairman of the council Committee on Oversight and Investigations. "400,000 children potentially don't have enough to eat, and one in four senior citizens eat in a soup kitchen," Gioia said.

What is worse, Gioia said, is that at least half the people who are eligible for food assistance don't know they are. "Right now, if we signed up all the people who are eligible for federal food relief we would get $1 billion," he said. "That [$1 billion] would go a long way."

Gioia said too much bureaucratic red tape is preventing families from receiving Food Stamps. "The application was 24 pages long," Gioia said. (It has since been trimmed to eight pages.) Gioia also wants to put the application online. "If they're online, then you don't have to wait in line," he said.

A second problem, Gioia said, is the fact that many people believe the Food Stamp program no longer exists. "I want you to help spread the word-you can put food on your family's table," he said, adding the program doesn't cost the city anything. "It's federal money."

The federal Food Stamp program actually no longer uses stamps, instead issuing a debit card to those who qualify. For a family of four, the maximum monthly income for eligibility is $2,167 and $500 weekly before taxes ($26,000 annually). The maximum allotment per month for a family of four is $518. The average benefit is $204 per household per month.

You may be eligible even if you own a business, a home or a car. You do not have to be on public assistance to apply. If you reside with your parent(s), are at least 22 years of age, and purchase and prepare your own food, you may be eligible for your own food card. You may also apply even if you have no income or are unemployed.

"No child in our city should go hungry, and every family deserves the resources they need to stay healthy," Gioia said.

For information and applications from the Human Resources Administration Info line, call 311 or (877) 472-8411 or visit www.nyc.gov.