- April 19, 2024
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By supporting the program, the County Commission believes it can bring up to $10 million to the community.
Because of embarrassment, lack of transportation or simply being unaware of entitlements, countless hungry residents are currently not taking advantage of the food stamps program, said Doug Baxter, president of the Flagler County Chamber of Commerce & Affiliates at the May 2 County Commission meeting.
“They just won’t do it,” he said.
The commission voted to spend $40,000 to help pay for a specialist to coordinate the Mobile Benefits Program, which will seek out those entitled to benefits directly rather than waiting for them to come to it. The program also makes the process more discrete, by offering participants debit cards instead of traditional stamps.
Funds are also delivered to participants in a matter of days, not weeks, and the program will be taken over and funded by the Second Harvest Food Bank after its second year of operation in Flagler.
Participants must earn less than $1,000 a month to be considered. The program will start immediately.
According to projections made by the Department of Children and Families and Second Harvest Food Bank, Flagler County residents are missing out on a combined $700,000 a month in federal grocery spending — a figure Baxter said rises every 30 days, and recently reached $800,000.
In one year, those losses total about $10 million, Commission Chairman Alan Peterson pointed out — most of which would be spent in-county, at grocery stores and retail shopping outlets, and would therefore recirculate in the local economy.
“We have people starving in Flagler County,” Baxter said, “and we can’t have that. We need to take control of the situation before it gets worse.”
Commissioner Milissa Holland agreed, although she was hesitant to approve the proposed two-year, $40,000 commitment and instead offered to raise the funds privately, through the Women’s Initiative.
“The Women’s Initiative is a force to be reckoned with,” she said, citing a recent $15,000 fundraiser it led for Feed Flagler.
Eventually, it was decided that the county would pay for the program up front with contingency funds and budget savings, under a stipulation that Holland would reimburse the county.
The motion passed unanimously.
Baxter has promoted the program in the community for months. For more information, visit www.mobilebenefits program.org.
