Another family goes hungry waiting for food stamps

Thursday, October 03, 2013

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Diane Wilson
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RALEIGH, N.C. -- Kelly Swanson is a single mom to two girls and loves to see smiles on their faces. But lately she says they have been too hungry to smile.

Kelly qualifies for state food benefits and has never had problems getting them until she had to recertify this past April.

"They told me to have it there on the 12th of April, I had it there by the 1st of April," Kelly said.

She said when she turned in her documents, she got a receipt and was warned it could be a while due to the backlog of cases with the new NC Fast system. But Kelly didn't expect to wait weeks, let alone months.

"I've never heard another thing from them. I went there a few times. I called my case worker and the supervisor&never got any return phone calls or anything," Kelly said.

In July, three months after turning in her documents, she finally got a letter saying she was denied her benefits.

"There is no way that could happen as I'm a single mom with two kids on disability, so my only income is disability so there is no way that can happen," Kelly said.

When she got that news, she drove to her local office and she said the rep told her she turned in blank documents. Kelly said that's not possible.

"I have a receipt proving that. They took the receipt from me," Kelly said. "Then she said, 'I apologize, I'm really sorry obviously it was a problem on our end.'"

Kelly said she was told her only option was to reapply. All through July and August Kelly continued to make ends meet with the little food she had and with the help of others, like food charities. Kelly said she eventually stopped paying bills because feeding her two kids took priority.

Still, Kelly kept going to her local office demanding answers.

"I went there today in tears and they said there was nothing they could do I just had to wait," Kelly said. "She said it's ended up being NC Slow, and that came from the lady at the front desk."

Finally, Kelly reached out to me and I rushed her information to Wake County Social Services. Within days Kelly received her benefits that date all the way back to April. Now she is able to fill her cabinets and make her kids a good, healthy meal.

"I just thank you so much. I praise God for people like you," Kelly said. "There's no way someone like me low on the totem pole can get anywhere."

The rep with Wake County never got back to me as to why it took five months for Kelly to receive her benefits. A rep with the state told me they have about 13,000 backlogged cases in their hands right now that different counties have given them to work through.

The rep said they are in the process of hiring 160 temporary workers to complete the work for NC Fast.