Emergency SNAP Benefits – Here’s How To Qualify For The Replacement Food Stamps

The recent severe storm that cause power outages is a problem for everyone affected,  especially for those in low-income families with limited financial resources. Power outages that linger long enough for food to expire or spoil can wreak havoc on households’ budgets that only rely on food stamps and similar government assistance programs.

Emergency SNAP Benefits – Here’s How To Qualify For The Replacement Food Stamps ( PHOTO: GOBankingRates)

Emergency SNAP Benefits

Officials in Tennessee aim to mediate the blow through its Disaster Related Emergency SNAP Benefits program, which supplies replacement benefits to recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, formally known as food stamps.

SNAP is the food purchasing assistance program overseen by the Department of Agriculture and administered at the state level. In Tennessee, the Tennessee Department of Human Services (TDHS) is the one who oversees the program. On its website, the agency said it is “prepared to supply replacement (SNAP) benefits” to current SNAP households who suffered losses due to severe weather that might have caused power outages or a “household misfortune.”

Smart News reported that most households in the western part of the state suffered power outages earlier this week. Roughly 120,000 Memphis, Light, Gas & Water (MLGW) customers lost power during severe storms that hit on Sunday, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported.

More than 70,000 customers are still experiencing the absence of power. MLGW authorities called it the sixth-worst storm in recorded history in terms of customer outages. The utility company also said consumers should be ready to be without power for at least part of this week.

Replacement SNAP benefits are available for existing recipients who were impacted as follows, according to the TDHS:

• Lost food due to a power outage of 12 hours or more
• Lost food due to a household misfortune

SNAP recipients requesting replacement benefits need to sign an affidavit and forward it to TDHS utilizing the Upload Documents option within the One DHS Customer Portal, which is available here at OneDHS.tn.gov/csp.

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To be eligible, you must request replacement benefits within 10 calendar days of experiencing food loss. Once authorized, SNAP replacement benefits are issued on your Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card. Replacement SNAP benefits will be privileged for the value of the loss only and can’t exceed the current month’s allotment, according to TDHS.

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