Four 2-year-olds stormed the East Orange Community Center where Liz Soto works. Their mother, stressed from being the sole caretaker of quadruplets in addition to her three older children, had bare cupboards and no money to stock them.
For three months Soto has come to the community center near the intersection of Alafaya Trail and East Colonial Drive, armed with her laptop and food stamp applications. She and another benefits specialist for Second Harvest Food Bank see about 30 families each week from East Orlando alone.
Six benefits specialists have aided in sending more than 710 food stamp applications to Tallahassee for needy Orange County families. SHFB and Heart of Florida United Way started the Earned Benefit Outreach Program about three months ago after realizing that $60 million in food stamp funding for Orange County is left on the table each year, mostly because people do not know they are eligible.
SHFB’s goal is to rack up $1.8 million in benefits by the end of the year, a goal it has already surpassed with $880,000 in food stamp dollars doled out and another $900,000 in pending cases. For the single mother of seven, food stamps mean about $805 each month of assistance. Soto said she hesitated to apply because the absent parent is from another country.
She was fearful that giving such information to the government would cause trouble for her children. “She was almost in tears when we told her how much she qualified for,” Soto said. “The quads are starting to get into everything now. It will be a big relief for her.” Soto understands the plights of people who come to her for assistance. She moved to East Orlando as a single parent to her 8-year-old son more than a decade ago.
She could not afford housing and received rent assistance from a local nonprofit. At the time she was employed by Goodwill, helping others gain employment. “I have always been a people person. I love making changes in people’s lives,” she said. “I was a single parent for many years and I struggled to make ends meet. I have walked in the same paths as they walk now.” More than a decade ago services for the needy were plentiful.
If a belly was empty or a child needed shelter, help was always within reach. Now, as unemployment reaches above 6.4 percent locally and the housing market spews more bad news than good, more people need assistance just as less funds are available for them. “Back then employment was easy to find and services were less strained,” Soto said.
“Now we have families who had nice homes and good jobs who are moving into apartments and need food stamps. It’s a big transition for them.” More than 1 million additional people in the last year have enrolled in the Food Stamp Program, which still only accounts for a little over half of eligible households nationwide.
More than half of those who benefit from food stamps are children and another large chunk are seniors and the disabled. The poor economy encouraged Soto to quit her job at Goodwill and join SHFB’s new initiative. The job has opened her eyes to the great need in even the most affluent areas in East Orlando. Her day starts at 8 a.m. and sometimes her caseload requires her to work into the evenings and through the weekend.
A third of the benefits specialist team is dedicated to East Orlando, where Program Director Brady Koch said they have seen the second highest number of applications coming through, next to Parramore. “There is a hidden pocket of need out there that we did not anticipate,” he said. “We had no idea how many cases there would be out there, but the numbers of new applicants are consistent each week.”
As the economic situation worsens, the stigma that once surrounded food stamps is drastically eased, Soto said. Plus, these stamps have become electronic and can be used as a debit card in stores. “A lot of families have pride,” she said. “They worked hard for so many years providing for their families and now all of a sudden they have to ask for assistance.
“That is very hard for a lot of people to do. Many times they will hold off until the last minute, until the fridge is completely empty. “There are a lot more people coming in so I think that stigma is fading.”
According to David Crepco, SHFB president and CEO, more than 138,000 Central Floridians qualify for food stamps but have not applied because of a lack of education, limited application sites or transportation challenges, which is why benefits specialists travel to many locations throughout the county.
In East Orlando, two specialists visit Catholic Charities on Semoran Boulevard, Woodbury Presbyterian Church near Waterford Lakes Town Center and the East Orange Community Center. Soto said people hear about the program through word of mouth or by coming into one of these locations and seeing their advertisements.
In addition to qualifying people for food assistance, benefits specialists also help applicants with other needs. They run applications for Florida KidCare, Heart of Florida United Way’s Earned Income Tax Credit program, employment agencies if a job is needed, or local nonprofits that can help with rent or utilities assistance. “It is not always just a food need,” Soto said.
“I think we are finally reaching people who need us the most in all sort of different ways.”
