Thanks, but no thanks

Two Dakota County food shelves are turning down free federal food because of new rules that they say conflict with their goals of helping food recipients regain self-sufficiency.

Hastings Family Service and Neighbors Inc. in South St. Paul have declined to sign a new federal agreement requiring food shelves to serve needy people without requiring Social Security cards or income or address verification.

The agencies may be the only two among 270 food shelves receiving cheese, ground beef and other federal commodities to refuse to sign by October an agreement forbidding local food shelves from seeking to verify income or other recipient data, said Erin Sullivan Sutton, an assistant commissioner of children and family programs for the state Department of Human Services.

"It is unfortunate they have chosen not to sign," she said. It means "a loss of food otherwise available to families in their community." She said both food shelves doubled the federal food they received from 2008 to 2009, when Neighbors received 37,590 pounds and Hastings 28,195 pounds.

Hastings Family Service, one of the state's largest emergency food providers, has two social workers who help food recipients set up a budget to become self-supporting, said executive director Chris Koop. The agency needs evidence of recipients' income and expenses to do that.

"We could not ask for income verification, and that goes totally against our values of really working with families to get them on their feet again," Koop said. She said the declined food would cost about $15,000 a year at retail prices.

Churches say not to sign

Joan Rhodes, a Neighbors manager, said the community has been generous in supplying food and clothes for the needy. She said the agency asked its 32 member churches whether it should sign the agreement forbidding income verification, and the unanimous response was no.

"We just feel we need to be really conscientious of the donations entrusted to us," Rhodes said. "We feel we need to be good stewards."

Sullivan Sutton said requiring income data can be a barrier discouraging needy people from receiving free food. "Helping people gain more control over their finances is always a good thing," she said, "but they can work on budget issues on a voluntary basis."

The food is provided through the federal Emergency Food Assistance Program from the U.S. Agriculture Department's farm price subsidy programs and other sources. The government is a major supplier for area food shelves, providing 11.5 million pounds to state food and meal programs in 2009, officials said.

The state's largest food distributor is Second Harvest Heartland of St. Paul. It distributes the commodities to 195 food shelves in 41 counties and has asked the shelves to sign the agreement, said field director Barb Downs.

She said the agreement puts in writing the income "self-declaration" policy that food shelves have been aware of but never had to formally accept before. That policy allows people filling out eligibility forms to self-declare their income, address, whether they receive food stamps and other data, Sullivan Sutton said.

"Self-declaration has been consistent across the country for a number of years," she said.

Sorting out basic needs

Koop said her 40-year-old agency, which also provides clothes, furniture and other services, enjoys strong church and community support. She said the service has two social workers who sit down with repeat visitors and "get to the root cause of why they come." They sort out basic needs, which don't include expenses like cable television, she said.

"If we are not able to verify their income and expenses, we would be enabling them again," Koop said. "We are not about entitlement but about partnering and helping families make good choices so they can get on their feet."

Byron Laher, president of the Community Emergency Assistance Program serving Anoka County and part of Hennepin County, said he hasn't seen the new agreement yet. But he doesn't think it would affect their food shelf because it only uses client-reported income and expense data to help people better allocate their incomes.

Tonya, 42, who asked that her last name not be used, stopped Tuesday for Thanksgiving food at the Neighbors store in South St. Paul. The single mother, who has three children at home, said she's been out of work about two years. Her refrigerator died in the past week, spoiling most of her food, except the turkey.

"I called Neighbors and they said 'Come on in,'" Tonya said. "Thank God for Neighbors."

Asked about the new agreement forbidding food shelves from verifying income data, Tonya said they should be able to require such information to prevent "somebody shady from trying to get free food when they don't really need it." She added:

"The people that need the help should get it."

Jim Adams • 952-707-9996