SNAP participants who lost food due to power outages during recent winds and wildfires in North Dakota may be eligible for replacement benefits.
JoAnna Lonski is SNAP program administrator with North Dakota Health and Human Services. She says SNAP households that lost power for more than four hours have ten days from the day they lost food to request replacement benefits.
"We've worked with the electrical companies and we know that Mountrail- Williams Electric in Williams County, and Ray and surrounding rural areas, along with McKenzie Electric Cooperative in McKenzie County and the Mandaree and surrounding rural area have been affected with outages that have lasted more than four plus hours."
Impacted households must report their food losses to the HHS Customer Support Center by email, at applyforhelp@nd.gov. They can also call during regular business hours. Local office contact information can be found on the HHS website.
Lonski says the program will replace the amount of the loss up to the monthly benefit amount.
"We don't ever want people to go without food; we want to be able to get those benefits back to that client and in their hands as soon as possible. The sooner they can put those requests in and get them processed, the better."