BATON ROUGE, La. — People who receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), may be eligible for replacement benefits for food lost during Tropical Storm Olga, the state announced Monday.
However, the benefits are NOT automatic, and need to be applied for by Thursday, Nov. 7.
These benefits are only for people who receive assistance in the SNAP program. The state said that there are no disaster SNAP benefits for Olga.
Here is what you need to do:
Current SNAP recipients who received SNAP benefits in October 2019 and who lost food purchased with SNAP benefits due to a power outage or other household misfortune related to Tropical Storm Olga can apply for replacement benefits.
For food losses due to power outage, the power must have been out for a minimum of 24 consecutive hours. DCFS works with the Public Service Commission to obtain reports of specific power outages. If DCFS cannot verify a household's power outage through these reports, SNAP recipients may be asked for verification of their power loss.
How to Apply
In keeping with federal regulations, DCFS cannot process a SNAP Replacement request until we receive a completed and signed SNAP 38 Form. Submit a completed and signed SNAP 38 Form in one of the following ways:
Fastest Option: On or before Thursday, Nov. 7, 2019, report the food loss to DCFS by turning in a completed and signed SNAP 38 Form in one of the following ways:
- Scan and upload the form to CAFÉ; or
- Send it to the Document Processing Center by mail to DPC, P.O. Box 260031, Baton Rouge, LA 70826, or by fax to 225-663-3164; or
- If you cannot upload, mail or fax the form, bring it to your nearest DCFS Economic Stability office. A list of DCFS offices can be found at www.dcfs.la.gov/offices.
Alternative: If you cannot get the signed form to us before Thursday, Nov. 7, then you must do both of the following to report your loss and send in the required form:
- Call 1-888-524-3578 by Thursday, Nov. 7, and provide your:
- Parish
- Dollar value of food loss
- Length of time without power
- AND, within 10 days of reporting the loss to DCFS by phone call, send your completed and signed SNAP 38 Form to DCFS, as described above.
The sooner we receive the SNAP 38 form, the sooner the request will be processed and the benefits will be issued.
SNAP 38 Forms
SNAP 38 Forms are available online at www.dcfs.la.gov/snapreplacementfaq and at DCFS Economic Stability (ES) offices. If a SNAP recipient cannot download the form or get to an ES office, the person can call 1-888-524-3578 to request that a form be mailed to them.
For more information about Replacement SNAP, or to download the SNAP 38 Form, visit www.dcfs.la.gov/snapreplacementfaq.