THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 11, 1995 TAG: 9502110086
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
Janet Manjavinos hoisted 3-year-old daughter Connie a little higher onto her right hip, shifting her weight to accommodate the bundled toddler. She had a long wait ahead.
It was 10 a.m. Friday, and the single mother of four was one of several hundred food stamp recipients waiting in a line that stretched outside the Social Services building.
Just then, a social service worker called out, ``Anyone who's got numbers up to 200 can come up front.'' The line moved forward slightly.
``When you get inside you have to wait about an hour,'' called out a man at the front of the line.
Friday was the third consecutive day of backups brought on by a new distribution system. Starting Feb. 1, the Virginia Beach department changed the way it hands out the food supplement coupons to 11,000 of the city's poor in an effort to save money and redistribute the workload.
Food stamp recipients formerly received cards in the mail each month, verifying their eligibility. They could then present the cards at any of the four city treasurer's offices or at the Social Services office anytime during the month to receive their food stamps.
Now recipients must show up on a specific date by the the sixth day of each month at a specific treasurer's office to claim their food stamps. If they fail to do so, they must then wait until the seventh day or later and go to the Social Services office on Virginia Beach Boulevard.
The change was designed to overcome the problems of lost cards and delays in the mail and eliminate the postage costs, explained Cindy Kirkland, administrative analyst for Social Services. This way, she said, recipients could be assured of getting their stamps during the first week each month.
And by asking people to show up at the city treasurer's offices, they could shift more work there. About 6,000 recipients, or a little more than half, were showing up each month at the Social Services building, Kirkland said.
But recipients don't like the new system.
Manjavinos receives $459 in food stamps each month. She does not work. ``I wish I could, but with four . . .''
Like other recipients in Virginia Beach, Manjavinos got a letter last month from Social Services, but she missed her time slot.
Manjavinos prefers the old system. ``There was never a line,'' she said. ``God help you if you're sick.''
Colleen Dubboise complained of being sick Friday but waited in line with Manjavinos anyway.
``I couldn't get to the treasurer's office because I was sick,'' said Dubboise, wrapping her coat tighter around her. ``This system sucks. I think they're treating us like in a roundup - like cattle.''
Dubboise, the divorced mother of a 12-year-old, gets $56 a month in food stamp supplements. She earns $5.75 an hour as a supermarket clerk and gets no child support from her child's father. She just gets by, she said, and doesn't have many options. ``You don't just want to, like, move someone in with you. There are so many jerks out there.''
Sandra Dorgan was waiting in line Friday because she, too, missed her rendezvous with the treasurer. She has no vehicle of her own and had to wait to borrow one.
``Standing in the cold is ridiculous,'' Dorgan said. ``My 11-month-old's in the car cause she's got a cough, cold and ear infection. But I wouldn't be here if I hadn't had her,'' the 20-year-old single mother mused. ``I made a mistake - I got pregnant.''
Dorgan lives, now, in a beachfront motel, paying $115 a week. She has a roommate, but hopes to ``get a job and get out of it'' soon.
On Wednesday, the first day this month that recipients could pick up stamps at the Social Services office, the crowd was so large and the wait so long that portable restrooms were set up in the parking lot, confirmed Sharon Hildebrandt, an eligibility supervisor.
The problems this month have been compounded by the lines at city treasurer's offices for residents waiting to purchase personal property decals for their vehicles before the Feb. 15 deadline.
Kirkland expects the problems to be worked out, and things to improve, starting next month.
Norfolk adopted the new system a year ago and it took several months to work out the problems, she said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT, Staff
Penny Culp, 25, of Virginia Beach, missed the line for food stamps
but still had to wait in the cold for about an hour.
KEYWORDS: FOOD STAMPS VIRGINIA BEACH SOCIAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT
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