St. Landry, Acadia disaster food assistance extended

A second month of Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for households in 11 parishes that received D-SNAP or supplemental SNAP benefits after the August flooding has been approved by Gov. John Bel Edwards and the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Service
Acknowledging the severity of Louisiana’s flooding in 11 hardest-hit parishes, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) granted the state’s request for an additional month of D-SNAP benefits for households that were issued benefits in August in Acadia, Ascension, East Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Livingston, St. Helena, St. Landry, St. Martin, Tangipahoa, Vermilion and West Feliciana parishes. Regular SNAP recipients in these parishes were also approved for a second month of supplemental benefits.
D-SNAP recipients who were issued disaster EBT cards in response to the August floods in 11 affected parishes will have benefits automatically loaded no later than Oct. 18.
Anyone who needs to replace a lost card can visit a parish office in one of the 11 parishes listed below. SNAP recipients in these 11 affected parishes will receive the same supplemental benefits they received after the flood, if their household is not already receiving the maximum allotment for their household. These benefits will be automatically loaded on EBT cards as well.
D-SNAP is a 100 percent federally funded benefit program that provides food assistance for non-SNAP recipients who are eligible due to lost income or disaster-related damages. Additionally, the program sometimes provides extra assistance to existing SNAP recipients in disaster areas.
In all, 122,000 households in 21 parishes received D-SNAP benefits in the weeks after the flood, for a total of $48.9 million in D-SNAP benefits issued initially. Regular SNAP households received another $30.9 million in disaster-related benefits.
For the 11 hardest-hit parishes receiving a second month of benefits, DCFS estimates 105,689 households will receive $42 million in D-SNAP benefits, and 72,002 ongoing SNAP households will receive $11 million in supplemental benefits. Recipients will have up to a full year to use their benefits, after which benefits will expire.
There are a number of programming and fraud-prevention steps DCFS must take before it can issue D-SNAP benefits. Because households cannot receive both D-SNAP and SNAP, the department will run duplicate participation checks to ensure none of the households receiving D-SNAP benefits have been certified for SNAP in Louisiana or the neighboring states of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida.
D-SNAP recipients in the eligible 11 parishes can obtain replacement disaster EBT cards at any of the following locations:
Acadia Parish Office - 300 E. First St., Crowley, LA 70526
Lafayette Parish Office - 825 Kaliste Saloom Road, Brandywine Complex VI, Lafayette, LA 70508
St. Landry Parish Office - 6069 I-49 S. Service Road, Opelousas, LA 70570
For questions or additional information, visit the DCFS website at www.dcfs.la.gov or contact the toll-free helpline at 1-888-LAHELP-U (1-888-524-3578).
To report fraud, visit www.dcfs.la.gov/ReportFraud or call 1-888-LA-HELPU (1-888-524-3578) and select option 7.