Going beyond food stamps

Resourceful Coloradans find ways to make ends meet with careful shopping, inventive menus and a variety of programs

Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News

Monday, August 6, 2007

Merlin Weidman cooks for the neighborhood. Doloris Dunn cooks for herself.

But neither takes for granted what many of us do - where the next meal is coming from.

On a recent week, Weidman, a 59-year-old Vietnam veteran who is disabled and can't work, ran out of food. "I'm always helping everybody else in the neighborhood out, so I'm always broke."

As for Dunn, the 76-year-old single woman has always been self- sufficient. She simply considers bargain hunting a worthy challenge, "part of who I am."

But her frugality got put to practical use in 1991 when, in a devastating blow, she lost her job in a company merger.

"After I got let go," she says, "I had to figure out what I could do without."

Broke, beleaguered, weighed down with family - or, like Dunn, a master at the art of eating for less - there are many reasons why some Americans spend a lot of time thinking about how to put food on the table.

It's true that Americans don't face starvation as people do elsewhere in the world, says Jim Baldwin, president of the Colorado Food Bank Association. But an estimated 547,469 Coloradans are what today's food assistance industry calls "food insecure" - not altogether sure where their next meal is coming from.

Although the phrase is new, the concept of food insecurity is what launched the federal food stamp program in 1939. It's now a $29 billion business serving about 26 million people, including about 251,000 in Colorado.

In July, the House passed a massive farm bill that would include a $4 billion increase in the food stamp program's budget. The bill also would rename the program the Secure Supplemental Nutrition Access Program.

However, the bulk of the complex bill, which passed 231-191, is rife with controversial crop subsidy measures. It faces a likely presidential veto unless it's significantly changed when the Senate takes it up this fall.

Food stamp supporters want the minimum monthly allotment increased and more people made eligible, such as ex-felons, according to the Food Research and Action Center, one of myriad anti- hunger lobbying groups.

Today, the average monthly food stamp allotment for one person is about $107, or $3.57 a day in a 30-day month.

This summer, as the food stamp debate loomed, supporters staged "Food Stamp Challenges" across the country to illustrate what it's like to live on the average daily allotment for a week.

Meanwhile, other Coloradans, both on or off food stamps, find help from the even larger nonprofit food assistance industry.

The huge, interlocking network links a national food bank system to hundreds of compassionate local outreaches, from sandwich lines for the homeless to "food pantries" that offer sit-down meals for everybody from the disabled to the temporarily unemployed.

Then there are individuals who keep a stable of tricks for making their food go further.

Weidman chuckles about his clever "ham pieces on toast," a concoction that turns leftover ham, some flour and water into a gravy-filled delight.

Although he has little money, he says he likes stretching his menus and inviting neighbors over who have even less than he does.

"It's part of who I am - I like to try to feed everybody."

Complaints got under skin

So what do you do if your next meal isn't a slam dunk? Where do you go if you need help? And how do people live on a limited budget?

Some of the questions can stump even savvy public officials like Roxane White, manager of Denver Human Services. She took the food stamp challenge and said she found that feeding herself on about $25 a week left her hungry and tired.

White's complaints annoyed Dunn, a peppery, 76-year-old retiree whose careful saving habits allow her to be completely self-sufficient. Her natural frugality proved a lifesaver when in 1991 her $44,000 railroad office manager's job was phased out following a merger.

Dunn took exception when she read about White's menu.

"She bought what I thought were crazy things" such as frozen dinners. "This is not good value and it's not nutritionally good for you because there's too much sodium."

Dunn says she lives well on a food budget of about $100 a month - roughly the same amount as the food stamp challenge - with enough money left over to dine out occasionally and sometimes even donate extra food to charity.

She says the key is careful buying and long-range planning. On a recent shopping trip, Dunn headed straight for the day-old bakery rack. Don't let the "day-old" moniker fool you, she says - the food is tasty and can be frozen for up to three months.

Dunn's favorite tip: Shop for food for the month, not the week. That gives you the most flexibility to buy bargains and stock up on sales.

And she swears by The Frugal Gourmet by the late Jeff Smith, who built a TV chef career in the 1980s around crotchety humor and skillful, penny-saving recipes.

"My bible - it's been with me for years," Dunn said, brandishing her well-thumbed copy.

Next, she whips out the latest edition of a monthly, eight-page supplement, Share Colorado, which is packed with food bargains and special package deals, like 14 items for $23, including about seven pounds of various meats. The nonprofit "food-buying club" is sponsored by Catholic Charities. Participants can save up to 50 percent over what they would spend in a supermarket because all the goods are bought co-op style.

Churches do their part

While Share Colorado is open to anybody, most programs are for the needy. In Colorado, except for the highly organized food bank network, the system is breezy, informal and staffed by volunteers.

Churches are at the heart of the system. No one knows how many take part, but a person in need stands a good chance of getting help by knocking on a church door, says Kathy Underhill, executive director of the Arvada Community Food Bank.

Many churches have "food closets," which carry just enough stocked food to tide over anyone who stops in and asks. Many also participate in a program that offers a free, one-time $10 coupon for groceries. And most churches can offer a list that directs people to more substantial programs, such as the Arvada Community Food Bank, 10405 W. 64th Place.

That's where Tammy Stark, 44, stocked up recently. Staffed by unfailingly cheery senior citizen volunteers, an Arvada resident can pick up, with two forms of identification, a large box of free food six times in a 12-month period. Heavily laced with staples like rice, it can last a family a month or more.

The mood is relaxed and generous and no one has to prove they're hungry.

"If they say they need food, that's fine with us," says assistant director Bill Gregory.

Stark lost her office job through a series of family illnesses and, as she says, plain bad luck. She figures she spends $50 to $75 a week on food for herself and her kids, Janae, 7, and Nathan, 5.

"Friends call me Bargain Betty," she says.

Stark's favorite tips include using farmer's markets for fresh produce at a good price.

She also keeps lots of ramen noodles on hand - "by themselves they're not very nutritious," she says - but they make a great casserole when mixed with just about any leftover, from pork chops to vegetables.

Fred Abrey's menus aren't even that fancy. Then again, Abrey never expected to be "food insecure."

Abrey, 47, a former real estate go-getter and dot-com entrepreneur, says he was the victim of several collapsed deals and business betrayals that left him with $130,000 of credit card debt.

Until it's paid off, Abrey lives in a 10-by-10 rented room in Arvada, "feeding the credit card companies before myself."

These days, one of his shrewdest financial moves has been discovering a nearby Chinese restaurant that offers a meal for $1.35 a scoop. Abrey also received help from St. Anne's Shrine, a nearby Catholic parish, which directed him to a food bank for essentials.

Abrey looks for good deals at grocery stores, buying an 18-egg carton and getting one for free.

For the time being, Abrey is willing to put up with such hardships as he tries to move from "food insecurity" back to the good times.

Just for now, he says, "I need help, you know?"

How food stamps work

• Who runs it: The federal government makes the rules, the states supervise, and each county puts the rules into action.

• What food stamps buy: Food, beverages and food-producing seeds or plants. The coupons cannot be used to buy alcohol, tobacco, pet food, soap, toothpaste, toilet paper, nonprescription drugs or any other nonfood item, regardless of how essential it might be.

• Who's eligible: Generally, people with gross incomes that do not exceed 130 percent of the federal poverty level. For a family of four, their monthly net income can't top $1,667. Also factored in are assets such as stocks and bonds, vehicles owned, even the value of one's burial plot.

• Latest big change: In 1996, the iconic paper "stamp" was abandoned in favor of an electronic card, much like a debit card.

• Problem of fraud: The switch to an electronic program helped reduce the money lost to fraud from $812 million a decade ago to $241 million in recent years.

• Just for Colorado applicants: Although it's a federal program, each state must develop its own application. In Colorado, that led to one of the longest application forms in the nation: 29 pages. It's a "single purpose application" that allows people to fill out only one form to apply for 13 various federal aid programs, from "old age pension" assistance to food stamps.

• What's next: Congress may consider a formal name change. "Food stamp" may trip off the tongue, but it carries negative baggage and is technically incorrect since the program graduated to the electronic age. However, the clunky name that the government hopes will catch on may be a harder sell: "FNS," or, in full, the "Food and Nutrition Supplement Program."

Help in the metro area

Some places to go for food assistance

• COLORADO'S FOOD BANK NETWORK

America's Second Harvest, a nonprofit membership organization based in Chicago, serves about 200 food banks around the nation, including five in Colorado.

What it does: Brokers food donations from huge national food companies, such as General Mills. The food then is distributed to affiliated food banks in the U.S.

In Colorado: Five Second Harvest affiliates in the state distribute the food to 1,300 food programs, including churches, soup kitchens, food pantries and organizations that serve the needy.

Contact: Colorado Food Bank Association: www. communityfoodshare.org or 303-652-3663

• MEALS ON WHEELS

Federal/state program created by the 1965 Older Americans Act

Who's eligible: Homebound persons 60 and over

What's offered: A prepared hot meal five days a week, or up to seven frozen meals delivered once a week.

Contact:Volunteers of America: 303-294-0111 www. voacolorado.org. Depending on location, the group refers people to appropriate programs in their communities.

• CONGREGATE NUTRITION PROGRAM

Created by 1965 Older Americans Act

Who's eligible: Adults 60 and over who can leave the home

What's offered: 30 dining centers in the Denver metro area

Contact: Volunteers of America: www. voacolorado.org or 303-297-0408

• SHARE COLORADO

Nonprofit food-buying club, a division of Catholic Charities

Who's eligible: "If you eat, you qualify!" is its slogan. People are encouraged to "give back" by becoming volunteers.

How it works: Place your order at start of the month, pick it up at the end. Average savings are about 50 percent over retail grocery stores.

Contact: www. sharecolorado.com or 303-428-0400

Tips for making your dollars go further

• Put bananas in the refrigerator - yes, the skins go brown, but the bananas are fine.

• Buy day-old bakery items and keep them in the freezer. They will keep up to three months.

• Don't dismiss powdered milk: It turns many people off, but you can save money by cutting it with regular milk. (For a "Creamsicle" kind of dessert, try mixing powdered milk and frozen orange juice.)

• Grocery shop by the month, not by the week. It's easier to stock up on staples and bargains.

• Need food assistance? Call a church. Most have phone numbers on hand to help you take the first step.

torkelsonj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5055