Elena Luna, right, picks up food while volunteer Maydith Merz, from Phillips Memorial Baptist Church, Cranston, assists at the food pantry at South Providence Neighborhood Ministries.

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The Providence Journal / Kathy Borchers

PROVIDENCE — More Rhode Islanders than ever are relying on food stamps, pantries and soup kitchens for food, straining state and private resources, say two new reports.

The number of individuals using the food-stamp program jumped to 129,407 at year’s end, a 40-percent increase from December 2008. The food-stamp program is now known as SNAP, for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Participants use ATM-like cards instead of the old stamps.

At the same time, 54,603 people in December received food from a pantry, soup kitchen or shelter serviced by the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, a nearly 15 percent increase from the same year ago period.

“So many people are not working, or are earning less than before,” said Donalda Carlson, administrator of individual and family support at the state Department of Human Services.

Many are first-timers. “They are coming to us in tears. These are people who have never seen themselves as applicants.”

According a new Food Bank report, 4 out of 10 food-pantry users are families with children.

“That’s a real concern,” said Food Bank CEO Andrew Schiff. Together, about 150,000 Rhode Islanders get groceries through food pantries and the food stamp program. “That’s close to 15 percent of all Rhode Islanders. These are Depression-era numbers.”

In December, the Department of Human Services issued nearly $19 million in food assistance benefits, compared with $12.2 million for the same year-ago period.

Carlson and others attributed some of the surge to aggressive outreach and an easier food-assistance application process.

The state recently trimmed its application for seniors to 4 from 28 pages, although others must use the longer form. Applicants can also register and reapply by phone.

Also, the state dropped an asset test, “which kept a lot of people out,” said Carlson. “The elderly were afraid we would tackle their retirement fund. It scared some seniors away.”

Plus, the stigma once attached to the food-assistance program is fading, said Kathleen Gorman, director of the Feinstein Center for a Hunger Free America at the University of Rhode Island.

“More and more people are willing to find out if they’re eligible,” she said. “I don’t want to say it’s been de-stigmatized. But 1 in 10 people are getting help. That means someone on your street is getting SNAP benefits,” she said.

Blame it on the economy, experts say.

The state’s unemployment rate is 12.9 percent, one of the worst in the nation.

According to Tuesday’s Food Bank report, three-quarters of those who received emergency food last year had an income at or below the federal poverty level, which is $10,830 for an individual and $22,050 for a family of four.

A fifth of all households seeking help included someone who had lost a job in 2008.

Around 80 percent said they could not meet the basic food needs of their children or spouses. Another 40 percent said they had gone hungry.

More than 4 out of 10 said they had to choose between eating and paying a utility bill or the rent.

“For the poorest of the poor” there’s little help outside of the SNAP program or the food pantries, Schiff said. “There’s no jobs program.”

State and food pantry workers are scrambling to keep up.

At the Jonnycake Center of Peace Dale, workers distributed 32,792 food pantry meals in December, a staggering 65 percent increase from the same month a year ago.

“I don’t know when we are going to turn a corner,” said Susan Gustaitis, executive director.

On Tuesday, Sokhanya Taai, 35, visited the food pantry at South Providence Neighborhood Ministries on Broad Street for the first time.

Although her husband has a job, his pay fluctuates with the economy, she said. With no food assistance or other help, she worries about feeding her two young boys, she said.

The demand is “crushing,” according to one state worker, Carlson said. “Manageable case loads — that’s a thing of the past.”

BY THE NUMBERSHungry in Rhode Island

Food stamp use is soaring

129,407

December 200992,395

December 200880,138

December 2007

pdavis@projo.com