Hundreds of residents lined the shoulder of Highway 90 in Boutte on Thursday with fingers crossed in hopes that they would be eligible for the state’s disaster food stamp program.
The federally-funded program opened to the public on Sept. 9 and workers with the local Office of Family Services will continue to accept applications daily from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Sept. 23.
And although residents are thankful that aid is available, many question why they must wait in line for hours just to complete a 10-minute interview.
“I understand that the state wants to make sure that we are who we say we are, but I think that Internet and phone applications should have been an option, especially for the elderly or handicapped,” commented Ama resident Sarah Elmer.
Elmer, like many citizens, accompanied her 85-year-old mother-in-law to the makeshift food stamp site.
“There is no way that my husband’s mother could have made it here all by herself today,” said Elmer. “So I had to take a day off from work to help her.”
DSS secretary Ann Silverberg made a call to the federal government mid-week requesting that the face-to-face interviews be waived because of the high demand for disaster relief.
“The main reason we requested that waiver was to avoid many of the challenges that we faced on day one,” said Silverberg in a press conference. “This is not an average disaster, we have a very widespread area of people impacted by this storm and they need assistance in a more efficient and timely manner.”
The challenges Silverberg refers to includes lengthy waits and intake center miscommunications that rocked sites in Orleans and Jefferson Parishes on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Yet regardless of Silverberg’s determination to end in-person meetings, the state denied her call.
At the St. Charles food stamp site, few snafus overshadowed the operation. But those that did included lack of water and handicap access.
St. Charles Parish public information officer Renee Allemand says that the disaster food stamp program is a state-run effort and claims that the state is to blame for the lack of bottled water.
“The state is supposed to supply water to residents at all intake sites,” she said. “But because that didn’t happen we decided to re-route cases of water from the Department of Community Services food program to the Boutte site to help with the demand.”
Allemand also points out that it’s the state’s responsibility to provided each disaster center with handicap and wheelchair access.
“If needed, I’ve put in a call to our public works department to provide the site with any leftover plywood or boards to cover muddy areas,” she said. “This would allow people in wheelchairs to have better access to the center.”
Overall, area residents agree that signing up for disaster food stamps on the first day in St. Charles was fairly easy and stress-free.
“Today was nothing like it was waiting in line for food stamps after Hurricane Katrina hit,” said Betty Mongrue of New Sarpy.
Center protocol requires that each resident is placed in line then escorted into an outdoor tent where they are able to fill out the food stamp application.
Then one by one, residents are called into their face-to-face interviews.
“Although I had to wait for five hours, the whole process was pleasant. I don’t have any complaints,” Mongrue said.
For more information on the state’s disaster food stamp program visit www.dss.state.la.us or call 1-888-524-3578.
Residents are reminded that eligibility for aid is based on household income.
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