Residents worry about loss of food stamps

The $163 Paula Pennachio receives monthly in food stamps is barely enough for her diet of macaroni and cheese, rice and spaghetti.

Faced with losing the federal food assistance that supplements her $1,100 monthly disability check, Pennachio is more concerned for the nearly 1,400 Lawrence County households that rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, than herself.

“I’m extremely worried. What are we going to do?” she said Tuesday.

The 55-year-old Edinburg woman is among roughly one in eight Americans faced with losing the aid come Saturday amid the ongoing U.S. government shutdown. Democrats are demanding an extension of Obamacare health insurance subsidies be tied to any budget deal, while Republican lawmakers and President Donald Trump are refusing those terms.

SNAP helps low-income households purchase food. Eligible households receive monthly funds through an Electronic Benefit Transfer, or EBT, card to purchase groceries. The amount of assistance each household receives is based on household size, income, allowable deductions and state-specific rules. In Pennsylvania, a household of one qualifies with a net income of less than $1,304.

Living on disability due to a back injury and brain damage, Pennachio said she won’t ask food pantries for help. That’s because she wants to make sure there’s enough for others.

“The thought of me eating when someone else hasn’t…I can’t take that,” she said.

A resident of Countryside Estates mobile home park, Pennachio pays monthly bills of $370 for lot rent and $200 for electricity in addition to payments on school and dental loans and car insurance. After paying her bills, she said she’s lucky if she has $200 left for other expenses, including gasoline.

In nearby Heritage Hills Mobile Home Estates, Ashley Scully and her boyfriend, George Stevenish, rely on Stevenish’s $292 in food stamps to supplement the money she makes as a home health care worker. Stevenish, 35, is terminally ill with cirrhosis not due to alcohol.

Like Pennachio, Scully is worried, particularly since they barely get by on the $2,500 she brings home a month. Lot rent is $350 and the electric bill is $358. Then there’s the expense of two cell phones and propane for heat.

“We’re barely getting by now,” the 40-year-old said. “I shop very cheaply at Dollar General and we eat the most unhealthiest things. We eat a lot of ramen. It’s horrible food to eat.”

Eric Senges, who with his wife, Sarah, co-owns the Grocery Outlet in the former Call’s Plaza in Neshannock Township, expects a downturn in business without food stamps.

“It’s going to affect every grocery store,” Senges said Tuesday. “If people don’t have EBT to buy food, it will negatively affect retailers that sell groceries like Walmart, Aldi and Target.”

He is, however, more concerned for his customers who rely on food stamps than the immediate future of his two-year-old grocery store.

“Our business is not our most important thought at this point,” Senges said. “Our concerns are for the customers.”

He remains optimistic that something will be worked out before this weekend.

“People need food to live, people have children,” Senges said. “I think they’ll work something out to get EBT benefits flowing.”

New Castle’s John Jones stretches his $187 a month from food stamps by making dishes from dried beans. The 52-year-old is thankful for the Grocery Outlet.

“This place is a God-send,” he said after purchasing $38 worth of groceries there on Tuesday. “Their prices are so good. I feel really blessed.”

Jamie Anglin, who with his wife, Dee, co-owns Gilliland’s Market in New Wilmington, doesn’t expect the food stamp cutoff to affect his business. One percent of his customers use an EBT card.

“We don’t do very much, but the inner-city stores will hurt,” Anglin said.

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