2020 was an unprecedented year for the Department of Children and Family Services in Louisiana as more than $674 million was distributed in emergency food stamps. Deputy Assistant Secretary Jean Guinta has the breakdown.
“That would be $444.6 million in SNAP emergency allotment due to the pandemic and then another $137.1 million in pandemic EBT benefits,” said Guinta.
And $92.6 million in hurricane Disaster SNAP benefits was also distributed.
Jean Guinta said to keep staff and recipients safe they made changes in the distribution of SNAP benefits last year.
“We started the very first virtual Disaster SNAP program in the country, and we ran it successfully several times unfortunately because of the need,” said Guinta.
And because of the success of the virtual program, Guinta says other states have asked for guidance and are modeling their distribution process after Louisiana’s.
From March to December of 2020, Guinta said demand for SNAP benefits increased 26-percent. She credits the work of her staff for meeting the unprecedented demand.
“And in that same time frame we did not have any increase in our staffing, so it truly resulted in staff really putting forth a lot of effort to make sure they served all of these families,” said Guinta.
The department also secured waivers to allow recipients to use their benefits to purchase hot or prepared foods. Guinta said that aided hurricane recipients while they were living in hotels or without a kitchen to prepare food.
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