Thousands wait hours to get Irma food help
Confusion, frustration grow as deputies redirect traffic entering park.
Five weeks after the outer bands of Hurricane Irma thrashed Palm Beach County, thousands of people lined up as early as 2 a.m. Tuesday to apply for disaster food assistance at three county parks.
The Food for Florida Disaster Food Assistance Program is designed for those in Florida who aren’t ordinarily eligible for food assistance but lost food or suffered damage from the storm last month.
As the sun came up, the line of cars trying to get into John Prince Park was backed up more than a mile to Interstate 95. Confusion, frustration and impatience grew as Palm Beach County sheriff ’s deputies redirected traffic to a park entrance on South Congress Avenue.
Atlantis police blocked cars trying to park at nearby businesses and shopping plazas. Palm Tran shuttled those on foot until 9:30 a.m. when no more walkups were allowed. There were no bathrooms and only the water that some carried with them.
“I was in the wrong line for an hour and a half,” said an exasperated Zully Ruiz, 40. “I got here at 2 a.m. and finally
got in around 9:20. Then they said I needed more paperwork. I had my driver’s license but they said I needed Social Security cards for me and all my kids.”
The program, Food for Florida, is part of the Department of Children and Families’ Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, called D-SNAP. The program provides food assistance in 48 Florida counties.
To qualify for the program, applicants must have lived or worked in one of the 48 counties and have experienced at least one impact: Damage or destruction of their home or business; loss of income and disaster related expenses, such as food loss, home and business repairs, evacuation and temporary shelter expenses. People receiving food stamp benefits are not eligible.
Applicants should pre-apply online and be prepared to provide information and proof of income and employment. A photo ID is required.
The program is scheduled to run until Saturday. Applicants should visit an authorized site on specific days based on the first letter of their last name. Applications are also being accepted through Saturday at Lake Ida West Park in Delray Beach and Glades Pioneer Park in Belle Glade.
DCF will provide or mail cards to eligible individuals and families to use at authorized USDA food retailers.
“The Florida Department of Children and Families is doing everything possible to ensure every family receives the resources and help they need as quickly as possible,” DCF Secretary Mike Carroll said in a statement.
Although it appeared Palm Beach County would take a direct hit, the storm shifted west, devastating the Florida Keys and flooding much of Southwest Florida. No sustained hurricane force winds were reported in Palm Beach County and power was restored within 10 days.
Widespread fraud plagued DCF’s disaster food assistance program after Hurricane Wilma in 2005, with some of the more than 700,000 applicants statewide showing up in new Jaguars, Land Rovers and Hummers. A Palm Beach Post investigation found there were few safeguards to prevent people from lying about their income, number of household members or even their identity.
The state caught $428,945 worth of fraud before payments went out in November 2005. Another 168 people suspected of lying on their applications were referred to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for investigation. DCF referred six of its own employees suspected of fraud to FDLE.
Lake Worth mother of three
The current online application requires information about income, savings and assets. However, some who went through the process Tuesday said no additional documents were required besides a photo ID and birth certificates for children living in the household.
“They didn’t ask for anything, just my ID,” said Rosa Alvarado, a Lake Worth mother of three who went three days without water and a week without power. She said she spent money on plywood and screws before the storm and threw out food after the storm. “You fill out what you consider to be right, but it is your conscience that speaks,” Alvarado said. “If you lie, that’s up to you.”
Large crowds also formed before sunrise Tuesday at Lake Ida Park in Delray Beach, with traffic backed up throughout the 189-acre park. Countless cars crowded side streets and parking lots within a quarter mile of the park. About 3,500 applicants were allowed in before the park hit capacity and was briefly closed.
Marie Jimenez, of Delray Beach, showed up at 3 a.m. to find hundreds already in line. She finally got assistance at about 8:30 a.m., but only because she was allowed to skip the line because of a knee condition, she said.
“It was a long wait, of course,” said Jimenez, who brought a folding chair with her, as many others did. “I’m happy with how it went, but others were not. I didn’t mind the wait.”
A woman, who declined to give her name, drove from her home in Coral Springs in Broward County at 2 a.m. to line up, after waiting hours in a Broward County line on Sunday only to learn it reached capacity. She got through the line in Delray Beach, however. “It was chaos,” she said. “There were people running into line at 2 in the morning. Inside the park, there were multiple lines.”
Crowds in Miami-Dade and Broward counties were so large last weekend that local and state officials abruptly closed several crowded sites because of “health and safety concerns,” according to The Miami Herald. Medics and police responded to cases of heat exhaustion, as well as fights among “frustrated participants,” the report said.
Rosa Alvarado
‘You fill out what you consider to be right. … If you lie, that’s up to you.’