Update on what DFCS is doing to help those in our community who lost food during the power outage caused by Hurricane Matthew.

This is a long but infor­ma­tive offi­cial state­ment from Lib­er­ty Coun­ty DFACS Direc­tor Shawn Brown regard­ing replace­ment Food Stamp ben­e­fits

Some of you have been reach­ing out to us with ques­tions about what DFCS is doing to help those in our com­mu­ni­ty who lost food dur­ing the pow­er out­age caused by Hur­ri­cane Matthew.

If the per­son is already receiv­ing SNAP (aka Food Stamps) and they live in Lib­er­ty, Bryan, Eff­in­g­ham, Chatham, Cam­den, Glynn, and McIn­tosh it looks like DFCS will be approved to com­plete a Mass Issuance of Ben­e­fits to replace food that they pur­chased with their ben­e­fits from Sep­tem­ber or the first few days of Octo­ber. Con­sid­er­a­tion is also being giv­en to add Long and Bul­loch coun­ties along with sev­er­al Region 9 coun­ties. A deter­mi­na­tion regard­ing the Mass Issuance will be made with­in 48 hours. Once we know for sure there will be a press release and oth­er com­mu­ni­ca­tion that will go out with the infor­ma­tion and instruc­tions.

Until we offi­cial­ly receive approval for a Mass Issuance of Ben­e­fits, indi­vid­u­als need to come into the DFCS office and fill out a Form 841. The guide­lines indi­cate that the indi­vid­ual pro­vides a let­ter from their pow­er com­pa­ny ver­i­fy­ing that they were with­out pow­er. How­ev­er, this is expect­ed to be a chal­lenge as GA Pow­er, Canoochee Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive, and Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive most like­ly do not have the resources avail­able to divert to indi­vid­u­al­ly ver­i­fy account infor­ma­tion and pro­vide them with a let­ter. This is an issue we are work­ing on with the State Office and if we are approved for a Mass Issuance of Ben­e­fits indi­vid­u­als will not need the ver­i­fi­ca­tion let­ter or to com­plete the Form 841. At that point the Mass Issuance is approved the SNAP Ben­e­fits will be issued with­in 10 days. For now though please tell them to come in to the office and com­plete the Form 841.

In regards to those who are apply­ing for SNAP for the first time due to a loss asso­ci­at­ed with hur­ri­cane Matthew or any oth­er rea­son, as of right now the state of Geor­gia has not been giv­en pres­i­den­tial approval for the SNAP Dis­as­ter Pro­gram. North Car­oli­na is the only state that has received approval for the pro­gram thus far. Those in need can apply like always and their appli­ca­tion will be assessed to see if they meet the stan­dard require­ments for the pro­gram. As for imme­di­ate food assis­tance, I would rec­om­mend that peo­ple con­tact the local food banks and church­es.

We have already shift­ed our staff resources to focus on assist­ing those com­ing in that are in need.

We will pro­vide with you more infor­ma­tion as we are able.

Thanks in advance,
Shawn M. Brown, M.A.
Coun­ty Direc­tor
Liberty/Long Coun­ty DFCS
Shawn.Brown@dhs.ga.gov