CLEVELAND, Ohio - May 30, 2009 - More and more Ohioans are turning to food stamps to make ends meet, as the state's economy continues to worsen.
Official figures show than one in seven people in Cuyahoga County, Ohio's most populous county, received food stamps in February, an 8 percent increase from one year ago.
Across the state, 16 percent more people received food stamps during February than a year earlier.
Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks, says food stamp participation is skyrocketing.
Nationally, 32.6 million people received the benefit in February, the highest number in the program's history.
Ohio's unemployment rate was 10.2 percent last month, the first time the figure has hit double digits in more than 25 years.