Lucas County commissioners live off $21 a week

Thursday, September 20, 2007

More than 67-thousand people in Lucas County live off food stamps and it's an issue that Lucas County commissioners are learning about first hand this week.

We talked with one food stamp recipient who says she is glad the commissioners are up to the challenge but feels more needs to be done.

Christina Fonseca has had a long day. She doesn't drive so she took a bus across town to the Family Service Center. She goes there regularly to make sure her family has food on the table. "This month there's me myself, our 2 children. We only got 100 dollars and it's gone already and we still got 2 weeks to go." said Christina Fonseca, a food stamp recipient.

She, and more than 67-thousand others in Lucas County, receive food stamps. On average, recipients get about 21 dollars a week for food.

This week county commissioners and other county employees are stepping into their shoes, trying to spend no more than that on food for an entire week.

"Twenty one dollars is proving difficult, for me personally." Commissioner Ben Konop went shopping for the week and says it won't be enough to last. He plans on relying on his family and a trip to a food pantry for the rest.

The toughest part for people using food stamps is going to a food pantry and getting their food for the month. But that's only if it's in stock. And that's no guarantee. Pantry workers say they're seeing a lot of empty shelves.

"If nothing else comes of this, hopefully people will think about giving extra food to pantries." But Christina just wants people to be aware. "People who are more wealthy should think about people like myself, because I'm young but I have 2 kids that I have to take care of, so it's hard."

The three commissioners plan on coming to this pantry tomorrow to stock up.

Get more News »