NEWS
FoodShare Hits Backlog, While Counties and Pantries Try to Compensate
WSAW Staff
Mark Nelson with the Chippewa County Economic Support office says his team gets several calls a day from people wondering where their FoodShare benefits are.
“Those individuals who are applying through the state are being backlogged and delayed weeks if not months,” says Nelson, adding that one man has been waiting since August and hasn’t heard anything from the state.
He says his office will begin helping to process the applications, but have had to find other ways to help people immediately.
“We can't see making people suffer just because the state doesn't have the ducks in a row right now on this program,” says Nelson.
With longer waits for state assistance, more people are turning to food pantries. But food pantries are seeing less on their shelves.
"We've been having to tell the people that come in for food that we are out of bread for today,” says Carol Gallatin at Grace Lutheran Church. “So we will have to have someone come and donate bread."
Gallatin their pantry sees many people on the state FoodShare waiting list.
“It's very hard,” she says, adding that her pantry gives out nearly 75 bags of groceries a week.
Even though the list for FoodShare is long, Nelson says for those in need of food assistance, it's still worth being on.
"Don't be afraid to apply for them,” he says of FoodShare and other social services. “That's what they're there for."
Seth Boffeli with the State Department of Health and Human Services says the backlog happened because the office saw 94,000 applications in only 4 months.
He says they've received more because single adults now apply for Badger care and FoodShare at the same time.
Courtesy WEAU
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