“People are struggling and having to make choices of getting food or getting heating fuel,” said Stebbins' city administrator, as state emergency aid begins to reach rural Alaska amid the ongoing food-stamp backlog.
Rose Carney is show organizing supplies at the food pantry at Harvest Christian Fellowship Church in Eagle River, Alaska on April 17, 2023.
Faced with food shortages and rampant inflation, the city recently used $38,000 in funds raised for a children’s spring carnival to buy residents basic supplies. The community on Alaska’s western coast is also reeling from the remnants of a typhoon that destroyed a critical stockpile of fish and fishing boats at the same time problems with the food stamp program were emerging.
A cyberattack that targeted the state health department in 2021 complicated Alaska’s ability to process the applications, said Heidi Hedberg, who was appointed health commissioner late last year. Employees who were supposed to upgrade key department computer systems were pulled away to address the attack, leaving the upgrade work undone. But 100 positions that were set to be eliminated due to anticipated efficiencies with the upgrade nonetheless were still cut, Hedberg said.
Carney said she received a letter in September saying her benefits had been renewed — but a month later, got another letter saying her application was due the next day. She filled it out but didn’t start receiving benefits until last month after contacting a lawyer, she said. Meanwhile, she added water to stretch bean soup and visited a church food pantry to get by.
The $1.7 million allocated by Dunleavy in February was for the food banks to address urgent needs, including the bulk purchases of goods and distribution of cash cards so people in rural communities can buy groceries on their own and support local stores.
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'People are suffering': Food stamp woes worsen Alaska hungerThousands of Alaskans who depend on government assistance have waited months for food stamp benefits, exacerbating a hunger crisis laid bare by the pandemic, inflation and the remnants of a typhoon
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'People are suffering': Food stamp woes worsen Alaska hungerThousands of Alaskans who depend on government assistance have waited months for food stamp benefits, exacerbating a hunger crisis laid bare by the pandemic, inflation and the remnants of a typhoon
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'People are suffering': Food stamp woes worsen Alaska hungerThousands of Alaskans who depend on government assistance have waited months for food stamp benefits, exacerbating a hunger crisis laid bare by the pandemic, inflation and the remnants of a typhoon.
続きを読む »
'People are suffering': Food stamp woes worsen Alaska hungerThousands of Alaskans who depend on government assistance have waited months for food stamp benefits, exacerbating a hunger crisis laid bare by the pandemic, inflation and the remnants of a typhoon.
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‘People are suffering’: Food stamp woes worsen Alaska hungerThousands of Alaskans who depend on government assistance have waited months for food stamp benefits, exacerbating a long-standing hunger crisis worsened by the pandemic, inflation and the remnants of a typhoon that wiped out stockpiles of fish and fishing equipment.
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'People are suffering': Food stamp woes worsen Alaska hungerThousands of Alaskans who depend on government assistance have waited months for food stamp benefits, exacerbating a hunger crisis laid bare by the pandemic, inflation and the remnants of a typhoon. The backlog began last August and is especially concerning for residents in far-flung areas not connected by roads. Food is shipped in by barge or airplane and costs of basic goods are often exorbitant. Around 13% of the state’s roughly 735,000 residents received food stamp benefits in July, before the troubles began. The state is scrambling to fix its slow response and has provided $1.7 million to get emergency relief to the most isolated villages.
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