FOOD-STAMP RECIPIENTS ON RISE IN COUNTY

Unemployment in Cape Girardeau County is a scant 3.2 percent, but the number of area residents qualifying for food stamps has increased in the past year.

In fact, 217 more households in Cape Girardeau County have qualified for food stamps since July 1993. Of the Cape County population, which is approximately 60,000, 5,457 people receive food stamps.

"What that means is that even though a lot of people are working, the cost of maintaining a household is sometimes exceeding the amount of money coming in," said Shirley Linley of the Missouri Department of Social Services.

Since July 1993, 234 more people in Cape County have qualified for food stamps.

Linley said food stamps are available to people who show the cost of their shelter exceeds their income. Those who have no income qualify for the maximum amount of $115.

The maximum income one can have to qualify for food stamps is $798 a month. How much an individual is given for food stamps each month is determined by a complex formula that takes into account rent, utility bills and the number of people in the household.

Applicants are allowed a standard 20 percent deduction from their gross income and another $134 for each household. If applicants are elderly and disabled, medical expenses can be deducted.

There is also an expedited food-stamp program for homeless people. "The stamps are processed the same day the application is filled out and there is only a five-day waiting period as opposed to a 30-day period for someone who is not without shelter," Linley said.

Taking an applicant with the maximum gross income of $798, Linley said that with the standard deduction the income would be $504.40.

Then, if the person rented an apartment for $250 a month and had utility bills of $175, he could divide the $504.40 by two.

The excess shelter deduction would be $174.80. When that is taken from $504.40, it leaves $329.60. That would be rounded off to $330.

"That person would receive $16 a month in food stamps," Linley said.

Food stamps are only good for food. "Anything that is edible," Linley said.

An individual who qualifies for food stamps is given an identification card, which is to be shown to a grocery store when stamps are redeemed for food.

Most area grocery stores don't require people with food stamps to show their identification. However, they do have to see that the serial numbers of the stamps match up to the book they originated from.

"Our main requirement is that they are still in the book," Del Farm manager Jim Sturm said. "Normally they have their card, but it isn't required by us."

Sturm said his store does "quite a bit" of business in food stamps.

Save-A-Lot store manager Phyllis Wiedefeld said food stamps can be loose. "But they have to match up to the numbers in the book," she said.

Both Sturm and Wiedefeld said their checkers are aware that neither alcohol nor cigarettes can be obtained by using food stamps.

Schnucks manager Dennis Marchi said an identification card is a requirement at his store. Marchi added his store's computers are equipped to handle food stamps. Asked how much business his store handles in food stamps, Marchi replied, "I can't say the exact amount, but it is significant."