$71 million worth of emergency benefits will benefit Oregonians starting January

Starting January, emergency allotments from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will be given to the majority of eligible residents in Columbia County and throughout Oregon.

According to Parker (2022), the federal government has each month approved emergency allocations since March 2020. As a result, SNAP users receive extra assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the federal COVID-19 public health emergency, Oregon is capable of providing temporary assistance in the form of these emergency benefits.

Because all these emergency benefits were granted by the federal government for January, Oregon will also be permitted to provide them in February 2023. However, it is anticipated that the emergency benefits will terminate once the federal public health emergency comes to an end.

The Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) Self-Sufficiency Programs Interim Director Jana McLellan stated that they are aware that many rely on these additional emergency food benefits to obtain enough wholesome food for themselves and their family in line to an article published by The Chief (2022).

On January 11, 2023, emergency allocations will be given to SNAP beneficiaries currently enrolled. For families who did not get benefits in the first monthly distribution, emergency allotments will be granted on January 31 or February 2, 2023. They won’t need to do anything to get these extra benefits since they’ll be put right on their EBT cards. About 421,000 SNAP beneficiaries will benefit from this $71-million-worth program.