THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 13, 1995 TAG: 9501120163
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
LENGTH: Short : 36 lines
The Department of Social Services is changing the way food stamps are distributed to Beach residents, hoping to make the system more predictable.
About 11,000 residents are issued food stamps each month. Recipients have had to wait until they received by mail a card that they could bring to one of five city treasurer's offices to redeem for food stamps.
Beginning Feb. 1, recipients will be able to go directly to a specific treasurer's office near them on a specific day each month to pick up their stamps.
``With this system, they don't have to wait until the mailman gets there,'' said Jim Altice, eligibility supervisor.
It also will eliminate the problem of lost or stolen cards, Altice said. About 250 eligibility cards are reported lost in the mail each month.
The new system will be a little tricky at first, he said, because recipients will have fewer chances to collect their food stamps.
Instead of redeeming the eligibility cards at any treasurer's office on any workday, recipients will be assigned one day a month and one treasurer's office. If they fail to collect their stamps or send a designated person to collect them on that date, they will have to wait until later in the month when they can pick them up only at the social services department's main office, 3432 Virginia Beach Blvd.
Other treasurer's offices are at: the municipal center, 409 Kempsville Road, 4507 Haygood Road and 401 19th St. by CNB