The number of Americans receiving food stamps is at an all time high nationwide and the bad economic situation isn't much different in Nevada.

"It is one of the worst periods that we have ever seen and I've been in this business for over 20 years now," says Joe Garcia with the Welfare Division of Nevada.

He says every day their offices are flooded with people needing assistance

Garcia says some days offices have been so full, the fire marshal has come out to do crowd control.

In 2007 there were about 125 thousand people receiving food stamps in Nevada and the numbers have been growing significantly every month.

In November of 2008 167 thousand Nevadans were receiving food stamps.

Garcia says to make things more difficult they understaffed but right now they are working on hiring more people and finding creative ways to get families the help they need.

Garcia says many people requesting assistance are people who have been laid off from the gaming or construction industry.