People in Florida need more food help in'08-report

WASHINGTON Nov 13 (Reuters) - Florida residents are increasingly seeking government help with food costs, according to a report released on Thursday.

In the last year, the state experienced the largest increase in people enrolling for food stamps of all states, a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation has found.

Some 22.4 percent more Floridians relied on food subsidies in August 2008 than in August 2007.

Nevada experienced the second-largest increase of 20.9 percent on a year-over-year basis, followed by Idaho, which had a 20.6 percent increase.

The rate of people participating in the program gives some indication of the long-term economic health of individual states, as most of those who enroll live in poverty.

To receive food stamps, a family must have a gross monthly income of no more than 130 percent of that set by federal poverty guidelines, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the program.

Starting last month, that means a family of three cannot have more than $1,907 coming in each month, and it cannot have more than $2,000 in "countable resources," such as a bank account, according to the department's Web site.

No U.S. state experienced a decrease in the number of people using food stamps, the Kaiser report found, and for the country as a whole, the number of food-stamp recipients jumped 9.5 percent over the year.

West Virginia, North Dakota and the District of Columbia all tied for the smallest rise of 3.9 percent.

At latest count, 29.46 million Americans use food stamps. (Reporting by Lisa Lambert and Chuck Abbott; Editing by Jan Paschal)