By Alfred Lubrano, Inquirer Staff Writer

One year ago this week, Pennsylvania tied eligibility for food stamps to the assets people possess.
Since then, nearly 4,000 households have lost or were denied benefits because they had too many financial resources, according to the Department of Public Welfare.

In that same time, many more people - around 111,000 households - were denied benefits because they failed to provide proper documentation for the asset test.

By Alfred Lubrano, Inquirer Staff Writer

One year ago this week, Pennsylvania tied eligibility for food stamps to the assets people possess.

Since then, nearly 4,000 households have lost or were denied benefits because they had too many financial resources, according to the Department of Public Welfare.

In that same time, many more people - around 111,000 households - were denied benefits because they failed to provide proper documentation for the asset test.

Instead of helping people who have fallen on hard times, Pennsylvania made it harder for them to get food stamps, and hundreds of families may be going hungry at times as a result.

The state imposed an assets test to determine food-stamp eligibility a year ago. Since then, nearly 4,000 households have lost or been denied benefits after being deemed too wealthy. Another 111,000 households were rejected for failing to provide proper documentation for the test.

Reinstituted test examines applicants' personal wealth and income to determine eligibility.

By Steve Esack and Daniel Patrick Sheehan, Of The Morning Call

It's the question Kathryn Hoffman hates to ask, especially of the elderly people who come into her office looking for help.

Do you have a burial plot? How much is it worth?

Please join the Kehillah of Old York Road for a special program:

You will about:

• pressing public policy issues surrounding hunger locally, statewide and nationally
• advocacy and how we as a community can make a profound difference
• how to become an advocate against hunger in our community

Presented by the Coalition Against Hunger, Mazon, Jewish Federation Center for Social Responsibility and supported by the synagogues of the Kehillah of Old York Road

By Juliana Reyes / STAFF WRITER

Twenty-two percent of Philadelphians are “food insecure,” meaning they at times lack access to enough food for a “healthy, active life,” according to a recent report from the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger. That’s the highest rate of food insecurity across the whole state.

Visualize that statistic and compare other counties’ hunger statistics (like the number of food stamp, or SNAP, participants and more) with this interactive map from the Coalition.

By James McGinnis Staff writer

Wall Street is back on track, but that hasn’t helped put food on the table for an estimated 86,926 Bucks and Montgomery county residents still on food stamps, according to latest report from the Coalition Against Hunger.

One in 17 Bucks and Montgomery county residents receives nutritional assistance from the government, according to latest State of Hunger: Pennsylvania report released Friday.

The number of locals on food stamps edged up slightly, with 37,965 Bucks residents in the program — an increase of 355 over the prior year.

Naomi Creason
City Editor

A new report on statewide participation in the food stamps program says Cumberland County has the highest percentage-increase in the program, though area officials note the county is still in good shape compared to the rest of the state.

By Shannon McDonald

Philadelphia has a 22 percent "food insecurity" rate.

That number is 13.7 in Delaware County, 9.7 in Chester County, 10.5 in Montgomery County and 10.1 in Bucks County, and represents the amount of people who have trouble accessing food and meeting the healthy diet standards of the USDA. The figures are part of the Coalition Against Hunger's "State of Hunger: Pennsylvania 2013" report, which evaluates food needs and access by county, and looks at the number of people getting food assistance in the state.

It is unconscionable that Philadelphia has more people in what's called deep poverty than any other city among the nation's 10 largest.

Almost 13 percent of city residents earn less than $5,700 a year for individuals, or $11,700 for a family of four, according to an analysis by The Inquirer and Temple University sociologist David Elesh. Poverty-line earners are paid twice as much, making these 200,000 Philadelphians the poorest of the poor.