The Associated Press reports that the number of Michigan households getting food stamps has risen 53 percent in the past five years, with one in eight state residents now receiving such assistance.

A short story is on page 6B of today’s print and e-editions of The Monroe Evening News.

The Detroit Free Press also went into more details for their story in Sunday’s edition, with statistics and quotes from the metro Detroit area. A snippet from the Freep:

For Angelia Moncrief, 31, a single mother who lives on the west side of Detroit, food stamps and Medicaid health insurance became an embarrassing necessity when she lost her $38,000 office manager job at Oakwood Hospital in Dearborn last September.

“Where I came from, not having to depend on anybody — the system, my mama, my brothers, my boyfriend — and now I have to use the Bridge Card,” Moncrief said. “Now, everyone is looking at me when I pull it out. They think, ‘She’s doing nothing, she’s on welfare, she’s poor.’ That’s what the looks say.”