New York Times Article

Food Stamp Use Soars, and Stigma Fades

With food stamp use at record highs and climbing every month, a program
once scorned as a failed welfare scheme now helps feed one in eight Americans
and one in four children. It has grown so rapidly in places so diverse that it
is becoming nearly as ordinary as the groceries it buys. More than 36
million people use inconspicuous plastic cards for staples like milk, bread
and cheese, swiping them at counters in blighted cities and in suburbs
pocked with foreclosure signs.