JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- With the number of Jacksonville residents receiving food stamps up 42 percent over last year, the Florida Department of Children and Families says a record number of people in the area are now receiving food aid from state government.

The latest statistics from DCF show 127,000 Duval County residents -- 15 percent of the population -- are now receiving food stamps, and that includes nearly one out of every four children.

"It's never been anywhere near that high," said DCF spokesman John Harrell. "If you look back over the past six years, the number of people receiving food stamps has nearly tripled."

State officials attribute the rising number of those to the depressed economy and high unemployment rate. And the local numbers simply mirror an increase in need of families across the nation.

"Just this week, a newly released study estimated that nearly half of all U.S. children will be helped by food stamps at some point before they turn 18," said Nancy Dreicer, DCF's northeast region director. "When you couple the results of that study by researchers from Washington University and Cornell University with these new local numbers, you can see the major concern that we should all have for ensuring that needy families and children get the food they need to live."

To help meet the demand, DCF is offering several new services to assist food stamp recipients.

DCF has established the "My ACCESS Account" service to make it easier for food stamp recipients to save time and get the information they need on any computer with Internet access, without having to drive to a DCF service center. People can sign up for the service at MyFlorida.com/AccessFlorida.

DCF is also partnered with selected vendors at the Jacksonville Farmers Market to allow people who are receiving food stamps to use their benefits cards to receive fresh foods at the Jacksonville Farmers Market. Through the Second Harvest Food Bank's "Fresh Food for Families" program, select vendors at the farmers market will now accept these cards for purchases of food as well as for plants and seeds to grow food for their households.