Thousands 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
Rose Carney is shown organizing supplies at the food pantry at Harvest Christian Fellowship Church in Eagle River, Alaska, on April 17, 2023. Carney and thousands of Alaskans who depend on government assistance have not received food stamps for months, exacerbating a hunger crisis.
“We know a lot of people that are not eating multiple meals a day; they’ve drawn down to maybe a single meal,” said Anthony Reinert, director of programs at the Food Bank of Alaska. There has always “been a baseline of hunger in Alaska. But it’s spread and expanded pretty significantly in the last six months.”
In January, the backlog of applicants seeking to renew food assistance benefits had reached a high of 9,104. Officials hope to clear the recertification backlog this month and turn their attention to thousands of new applications, according to the department. “I was really upset because that was like income that I was depending on, even though it was just food stamps,” said Carney.
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