Bladen County Department of Social Services Director Vickie Smith said her department processed 4,544 applications for Disaster Supplemental Food and Nutrition Assistance also known as DSNAP last week for victims of Hurricane Matthew. She said her staff took the applications over a five day period of time.
“Out of those (applications), 206 were denied,” said Smith.
She said the majority of those applicants were flood victims. Smith said the criteria is very relaxed for DSNAP.
“Part of the application process was to ask how much food they lost,” said Smith
She added they are also asked how much they spent out of pocket on items such as generators, flash lights, batteries, etc. Smith explained those items are given as deductions.
Smith did say that with the DSNAP program, if a family is already receiving food stamps, they are not eligible.
“If they are already receiving food stamps, they can receive a reissue of the September allotment and the State did a supplement for October,” said Smith.
She said that with DSNAP, the families that are eligible received an EBT card at the time of their application.
“Benefits are not loaded onto the card until the application is keyed into the system,” said Smith.
She said DSS staff have until Wednesday, Nov. 2, to get all of the applications keyed into the system.
“Because of the massive number of applicants, we are behind and they (DSNAP applicants) just need to check their balance daily,” said Smith.
She added, “This is the largest disaster program we’ve had. It is the biggest one since Hurricane Floyd.”
When asked about the time frame for DSNAP to be activated, Smith said it was her understanding that NC Department of Health and Human Services had sent a request to the USDA to activate DSNAP. Smith said it took over one week to get that request submitted.
Smith said it was her understanding that NCDHHS was attempting to get information from the power companies. She said at least 50 percent of the county had to be shown to be affected.
“They (state officials) were having difficulty assembling the information,” said Smith.
She said the she received a call at 3 p.m. Friday, October 21, informing her that DSNAP had been activated and they were to begin the application process at 8:30 on Saturday, October 22.
“We did not get the policy until 4 p.m. Friday (October 21),” said Smith.
She praised the DSS for their handling of the situation and quickly processing the applications.
The staff was treated to a breakfast on Friday morning, October 28.
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