SNAP: Changes in the Food Stamp Program

For starters, it is now called SNAP which stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and it is administered by the Virginia Department of Social Services.  Right now, SNAP issues a debit card that is loaded up at midnight on the first of each month.  Food stores have had a difficult time being able to keep enough fresh food on hand for the recipients.  Soon this will all change and cards will be loaded on a staggered basis so stores can have fresh foods for folks.   According to the Richmond Times Dispatch:

Under Virginia’s current system, all SNAP — Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, as the program is now called — recipients get their debit card accounts replenished on the first day of each month.

But come fall, that no longer will be the case.

To improve recipients’ access to high-quality products, the Virginia Department of Social Services will stagger when the benefits will be available during the first part of every month.

Recipients will receive their benefits on the first, fourth, seventh or ninth day of each month, depending on the client’s case number.

The transition will start in September, when recipients will receive their benefits either on the first or fourth. By October, everyone will have moved to the new staggered times.

Virginia is one of only nine states that do not stagger benefits.

“It’s really intended to make sure that folks have access to fresh foods, especially when it comes to fruits and vegetables,” said Tom Steinhauser, the social services agency’s director of public benefits.

For the average household on SNAP, the average benefit is $129.55.  How many people is that supposed to feed?  How can any family, even a family of one survive on so little money for an entire month, especially given the rising cost of food?  Do the poor even get real meat?

Just how many people get SNAP?  Again, according to the RTD:

During the transition, 60 percent of households will experience some delay when their benefit day changes. Those families will need increased support from food banks and local organizations, Reed said.

“It’s really important that resources are allocated to tide these families over during these periods of delay,” she said.

There are 442,920 cases, or households, on SNAP benefits in Virginia, Steinhauser said, representing 917,816 individuals. The agency has seen a 90 percent increase in Virginians on SNAP benefits since July 2007, when there were about 232,000 cases, he said.

“It’s pretty much directly related to the economy,” Steinhauser said.

We hear all sorts of apocryphal stories about people in the grocery store buying the sun, moon and stars who are on food stamps.  I think those are just that–apocryphal stories.  No one is going to get very far on $129.55.  That is some mighty boring eating.   I expect SNAP recipients are regulars at the food shelters.  Maybe I need to make  a donation to serve and empty out the pantry.

SNAP recipients are probably hit the hardest when kids are home all day from school during the summer.  It makes me wonder if any adjustments are made in amounts during this time when the children can’t get free or reduced breakfast and lunch.  Meanwhile, it is time for me to brush out the cobwebs and remind myself that people aren’t getting rich off this program.  Neither are they driving away in Cadillacs.