Pinehurst Today

The number of applications for federally-funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), widely known as food stamps, has doubled each week since mid-March in Moore County, a Southern Pines news outlet reported in April.

The spike in the number of people eligible for food assistance was no surprise to Moore County Department of Social Services Director Tammy Schrenker.

"As soon as we heard about the stay at home order and the closing of businesses, we knew what that would mean for us," Schrenker was quoted in an April 23 news story published by The Pilot. "We knew that our applications would increase, so we moved around some of our staff to assign to processing them."

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Moore County received 60 new SNAP applications but that number has since climbed to 130 per week, according to the news report.

The spike in applications started shortly after Gov. Roy Cooper on March 10 declared a state of emergency in North Carolina to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Since then, the state's Department of Health and Human Services' COVID-19 dashboard has reported more than 11,600 positive cases of the coronavirus and more than 400 deaths as the disease has reached into almost all of the state's counties.  

The governor's stay-at-home order expired on May 8, and the state is now phasing in economic reopenings. 

Cooper applauded unanimous passage by the state legislature of two COVID-19 relief bills that would spend more than $1.5 billion in federal stimulus funds to fight the coronavirus in North Carolina. The legislation would not expand jobless benefits or Medicaid. The legislation would provide millions for, among other things, education, health care, loans to small businesses, testing and personal protective equipment. The legislation also would provide money for food banks.

Meanwhile, back in Moore County, social services staff have adopted new operating protocols aimed at social distancing while still allowing paper applications that can be dropped off at the office or left in the dropbox, which is checked hourly.

Staff also are working hard to keep up with the spike in applications, Schrenker said.

"We have up to 30 days to process an application, but we are trying to process them as soon as they come in because we understand that people need this benefit," Schrenker was quoted in the news report.  "We also make sure that we have people who are answering the phone because we want people to be able to talk with someone."