Food stamps increasingly common in Connecticut's suburbs

The Hartford Courant reports that Connecticut's affluent and middle-class towns saw the greatest percentage increase in the number of residents receiving food stamps between 2007 and 2010.

"The increase was partly driven by changes in income eligibility rules in Connecticut," the Courant notes. "As that happened, more stores in more places began to accept food stamps." But it's also true that this recession has reached deep into the middle class. Lucy Nolan, head of End Hunger Connecticut! and a member of the Speaker's Task Force on Children in the Recession, put it this way for the Courant: "We've seen a lot of people who say they never thought they'd be on the program. All of a sudden they're out of business or out of a job."

Also according to the article, the total number of Connecticut residents enrolled in the federal food stamp program has been climbing for 28 consecutive months.