Power Outages and Replacement Food Stamp Benefits

Due to the recent snow storms, more than 220,000 households have lost power from New York City to the Mohawk Valley and throughout the Hudson Valley. Food stamp households that have lost power may be eligible for Replacement Food Stamp Benefits.


Our newest memo describes the criteria and process for current food stamp households, who have experienced food spoilage due to a power outage or some other “household misfortune”, to obtain replacement food stamp benefits.

Click here to veiw the memo and attachments

Food Stamp Program has Broad Support in New York and Nationwide, According to NY Times

Once Stigmatized, Food Stamps Find Acceptance

By JASON DEPARLE and ROBERT GEBELOFF
Published: February 10, 2010

A decade ago, New York City officials were so reluctant to give out food stamps, they made people register one day and return the next just to get an application. The welfare commissioner said the program caused dependency and the poor were “better off” without it.

Now the city urges the needy to seek aid (in languages from Albanian to Yiddish). Neighborhood groups recruit clients at churches and grocery stores, with materials that all but proclaim a civic duty to apply — to “help New York farmers, grocers, and businesses.” There is even a program on Rikers Island to enroll inmates leaving the jail.

“Applying for food stamps is easier than ever,” city posters say.

Read the full article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/11/us/11foodstamps.html?partner=rss&emc=rss