Use of food stamps among the poor is declining, even as private food distribution banks are seeing a sharp increase in demand for assistance.

• Food stamp rolls have tumbled to 17 million people from 24.9 million at the time of the 1996 welfare overhaul law.

• A Department of Agriculture study last year made news with the finding that at least 12 million people -- including at least 1 million children -- are not receiving food stamps even though they are eligible.

• In Ohio, for example, 80 percent of the state's eligible poor received food stamps in 1994 -- a proportion which fell to 59 percent last year.

• The Census Bureau has estimated that 3.7 million households experience hunger as a result of not having enough money for food -- and that 9.7 percent of households cannot reliably afford all their basic food needs.

Meanwhile, America's Second Harvest -- the principal nonprofit source for food banks across the country -- reports doubling the amount of food it distributes, to two billion pounds in the last two years.

Source: Elizabeth Becker, "Millions Eligible for Food Stamps Aren't Applying," New York Times, February 26, 2001.

For text http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/26/national
/26FOOD.html