Food program to aid residents

Nancy Buckner, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Human Resources, speaks to guests at a press conference in Florence Thursday. Buckner announced the implementation of a food assistance program that will aid county residents. | Nathan Strickland/FCT

FLORENCE- State Commissioner of the Department of Human Resources Nancy Buckner made a visit to northwest Alabama to announce a new contract agreement between DHR and the Shoals Family Success Center, which will jump-start a new food assistance program serving hundreds of people throughout Colbert, Lauderdale and Franklin Counties.

Buckner said in 2009, 23,000 people in the three counties received help through the state’s food assistance program, which took the cost to more than $32 million to help families in need.

Buckner said family service centers such as SFSC are “Top-of-the-line and should be supported by the community.”

“DHR is all about helping those in need,” Buckner said. “DHR is not a stand-alone agency. We can’t do our job without engaging all entities that are available. These are tough economical times and it is times such as this family service centers are needed. We need to all get on board and boost our family service centers.”

Commissioner Buckner said DHR is working with four similar centers covering seven counties in the state.

“We decided to partner with this area because there is such a great need for assistance here,” she said.

“We have never seen an increase in food assistance like we have in the past couple of years and now to be a viable, successful community, we have to work together and work towards helping each other. The Shoals Family Service Center is dedicated to serving their three counties, making sure those needs are met and we want to show we support that by establishing this contract.”

Buckner said even though the contract only extends to the 2011 fiscal year, it could possibly turn into an on-going project in the future.

The DHR-SFSC contract, which will go into effect July 15, will concentrate on making sure everyone is aware of their options and also that everyone has access to DHR’s food assistance program.

“We see people going after food stamps who have never thought they would have too,” Buckner said. “This contract will allow the employees to go into the communities and spread the message about the food stamp program and help people with filling out applications.”

The Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) is a federal program supported by federal funds, administered by the state Department of Human Resources.

This new SNAP contract, which is about $200,000, allows federal dollars to be spent by residents of Lauderdale, Colbert, and Franklin counties to purchase food, making food assistance possible for hundreds of local residents.

SFSC executive director Corinne Reese said partnering with the local DHRs should help expand their outreach to those who are not aware in all three counties.

“We are so excited and pleased to get this contract and expand our services,” she said. “There are lots of people out there who are eligible for services, but are not receiving what they need. With the contract, this will give us an opportunity to hire a few more people and strive to get out into the community to spread the word.”

SFSC is a community-based agency serving Lauderdale, Colbert, and Franklin Counties with the mission to connect families with the resources they need to succeed in life, in employment and in the parenting skills to guide their children to success.

SFSC serves as a non-profit organization and operates a one-stop family resource center where 14 non-profit tenant agencies work together to meet the needs of those in local communities.

Franklin County DHR director Jerry Groce said the contract between DHR and the SFSC will help out tremendously here in the county.

“With our counties unemployment rate in double digits and the high demand of those needing assistance, sometimes we just don’t have the man power to cover everything we need to be covering,” he said.

“We have never seen a higher need like there is right now and now that we have the Shoals Family Service Center partnering with our office in Franklin County, we will be able to serve people more efficiently.”

Groce said there are many people every day who are seeking food assistance for the first time and don’t know where to go or what to do.

Groce said his office would now be working closely with the center to provide everyone with the services they need to survive and hopefully work with the center to open up additional services aside from the food assistance program and bring that back to help the county.