BELFAST – How do you find old people who are hungry and unaware they are eligible for help in buying food?

Look for them, say the people behind a $350,000 federal grant that will use Waldo County as a testing ground for a program designed to link the elderly to the federal food stamp program.

The money comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The work in Waldo County will last two years and is among just six experimental programs being conducted nationwide.

Mary Walsh of the state Bureau of Elder and Adult Services in Augusta said Thursday that Waldo County was selected because of its large number of seniors and its low proportion of elderly who make use of food stamps. The county’s poverty and literacy rates also were taken into account, Walsh said.

Eighteen percent of Waldo County residents 60 or older live at or below the poverty level. Of those estimated 1,200 seniors, only 8 percent are food stamp recipients, according to the grant application.

Program planners hope to raise the number of seniors enrolled in the program by 20 percent over the next two years.

The most commonly given reason for the elderly failing to participate in the food stamp program is that many do not realize they are eligible, Walsh said.

Other reasons include difficulty complying with program requirements, an expectation of low benefits, the stigma of using food stamps in stores, perceptions that they do not need assistance, and administrative and psychological barriers. In a rural state like Maine, lack of transportation and a strong culture of self-sufficiency also play a part, Walsh said.

“We really feel we can do better at identifying those people who are eligible and not receiving assistance,” Walsh said.

“Nutrition is so important to the elderly population to maintain their health,” Walsh said. “It is a benefit and they can really improve their health and nutrition if they get food stamps.”

Statistical progress within the county’s population will be compared with similar information drawn from Washington County over the course of the pilot program. Washington County was chosen as a comparison site because its population has many characteristics similar to Waldo County’s population.

The Bureau of Elder and Adult Services hopes to make the program work by recruiting the county’s elderly as application assistants to help in identifying people in need. The assistants will be trained to explain the benefits of signing on for food stamps.

Walsh noted that food stamps can be used to buy processed foods, grains, meat products, fruit and vegetables. Some restaurants accept food stamps, as do many farm stands, she said.

Walsh said the state’s Senior Community Service Employment Program will evaluate and provide training for the assistants to help spread the word. The program provides part-time employment for low-income people 55 or older.

The application assistants will work with community and state agencies to provide education for seniors, families, service providers and others to create a network of referral sources to identify eligible people. The program aims to make the most of the number of seniors who successfully apply for and remain with the food stamp program.

“We thought, ‘Why not get people who are peers to go out and talk to community groups and individuals and get them hooked up with the program?'” said Walsh. “We feel that a peer-to-peer approach will really help.”

Walsh said training of the application assistants should begin by the middle of January.

After they complete their training, the community service workers will spread out to provide help and information to seniors. The assistants will explain the benefits of food stamps and advise seniors how to apply.

When the experiment is finished, the information will be compiled with data from other states. If the program is shown to have reached its goal of increasing the number of people who accept food stamps in their lives, the program could be expanded throughout the country.

Along with Maine, USDA will conduct two-year nutrition pilot programs in a mix of rural, urban and suburban counties in Connecticut, Florida, Michigan, Oregon and North Carolina.

The six experiments will test three approaches to providing food stamp benefits, said U.S. Rep. John Baldacci in a news release.

The three approaches are:

. Simplification of eligibility rules.

. One-on-one assistance with applications – the approach to be studied in Waldo County.

. An optional commodity alternative that provides a monthly food package instead of food stamps.

Nationwide, the elderly represent just 10 percent of food stamp recipients, Baldacci said.