More than ever, the hunger relief work Campus Kitchens engage in over the summer – whether its delivering blast-chilled meals to the Salvation Army, or adding new fresh produce to meals from garden harvests – will provide necessary nutrition to families hungering for assistance.

Many of those families await food stamp benefits, according to a recent report, “Millions Forced to Endure Long Waits for Food Stamps” that ran in The Washington Post.

Federal Law requires local administrators to review applications for food stamps within 30 days, but according to the Associated Press, about half of states processed less than 90 percent of applications from fiscal year 2009 in the allotted time.

Florida, Colorado and Nevada processed one fifth of applications late. Rhode Island processed one quarter late. And Texas, the worst among the states AP examined, left a third of its applicants waiting for assistance beyond 30 days.

A record 40 million people (one in eight Americans) are on the Supplemental Nutritian Assistance Program,  which means families are relying  on SNAP’s debit card to buy food they need to survive at grocery stores and farmers markets more than ever.

What does it take for a family of four’s application to process? Beyond meeting the requirement of earning less than $2,389 a month, state and local governments are allowed to add extra requirements, like fingerprints and notarized documents, to prevent fraud.  The decision could be what slows the process.

The next time you report to a Campus Kitchen cooking or meal shift in the hot, thick heat of summer, think of this: when a family’s SNAP card does not arrive for months, meals from community agencies like a Campus Kitchen might be all the sustenance received.

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