NAWILIWILI — Kaua‘i people have responded favorably to the new Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program eligibility standards which took effect Oct. 1, officials said this week. Amy Perdue, the SNAP outreach worker at the Kaua‘i Independent Food Bank, was backed up
NAWILIWILI — Kaua‘i people have responded favorably to the new Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program eligibility standards which took effect Oct. 1, officials said this week.
Amy Perdue, the SNAP outreach worker at the Kaua‘i Independent Food Bank, was backed up with clients Wednesday morning.
“I was so busy with walk-in people that my appointments were left waiting for their appointments, and I was trying to honor their time,” she said in an e-mail.
That hectic schedule has Perdue doing appointments from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the hour with at least two drop-ins daily, indicating a steady rise in numbers.
Judy Lenthall, KIFB executive director, said Sept. 28 that just a few days before the new SNAP standards took effect at least 10 seniors walked into the Nawiliwili food bank wanting pre-screening.
Of that number, all but one prequalified and have full applications pending, she said.
Lenthall, in a e-mail prior to leaving for an off-island conference this week, said during the week ending Oct. 2, the SNAP office talked with 84 people compared with the three-week average of 35 people.
Additionally, there were 66 pre-screenings completed last week compared with the three-week average of 20.
Pre-qualified numbers have also risen to 47 in the final week of September compared with the three-week average of 11, and full application completed also rose to 10 compared with the three-week average of seven.
Prior to the announcement of the new SNAP standards on Sept. 22, Lenthall said the impact was going to be “huge” on Kaua‘i. The first-week figures already verify that.
State Department of Human Services Director Lillian Koller said in the initial announcement that Hawai‘i will expand eligibility for SNAP to the maximum allowed by the federal government.
DHS estimates an additional 22,000 state residents will become eligible for SNAP and the state will draw down an estimated $60 million in additional federal dollars annually.
Under the new change, the income eligibility limit is raised from 130 percent of the federal poverty level to 200 percent for the majority of qualifying SNAP applicants.
Additionally, DHS will start providing five months of transitional SNAP benefits to residents when they exit the welfare rolls to help former welfare clients stabilize their household budgets and maintain self-sufficiency.
Finally, DHS will eliminate the assessment test which will be beneficial to seniors who often have low incomes but too many assets to qualify for SNAP. This will also simplify application processing.
Perdue said of the people coming in since the new SNAP standards took effect, more than half have been seniors.
She noted a good number of people who have been affected by the cut in state subsidies for child care have also been coming in along with unemployed people whose benefits have expired.
With less than a week before the kickoff for the KIFB Annual Fall Food and Fund Drive, Koller said in her announcement that the SNAP expansion will lessen the burden on food banks and other charities while infusing extra federal dollars into the state economy.
SNAP benefits are entirely paid by the U.S. Food and Nutrition Service while administrative costs of operating the program are shared equally be federal and state governments.
There were 145,534 Hawai‘i residents participating in SNAP during August with the average benefit amount being $217 per month.
