Older Hoosiers Can Benefit from SNAP Program

May 21, 2016AuthorMary Perren, WKVI 

Older Hoosiers aren’t signing up for federal food assistance programs, but many are going to local food banks for help each month. Statistics indicate 13 percent of Indiana’s food-bank clients are more than 60 years old. The National Council on Aging has an effort under way to close the “SNAP Gap.” More than 40 percent of seniors eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program have not applied, and the numbers are even lower in the Hoosier State. Emily Weikert Bryant of Feeding Indiana’s Hungry says many seniors aren’t getting healthy food they need because they just can’t afford it. She says 77 percent purchase cheaper, unhealthy food because it’s what they can afford. Additionally half are getting help from family and friends, and about a quarter of Hoosiers 60 and older are gardening or growing food in a community garden to offset their needs.

Weikert Bryant add a quarter of Indiana households have one family member who’s over 60, and many of those homes also have small children. The average senior SNAP benefit is $110 per month, which comes out to just over a dollar to spend per meal.

“A large number of them are also doing things like watering down their food or drink and 29 percent of older adults selling or pawning personal property. 46 percent are receiving help from friends,” she said.d

Many seniors face barriers because they don’t have a computer or transportation to sign up for benefits, and many think they aren’t eligible. Weikert Bryant says we should pitch in and help them.

“They’ve worked hard their entire careers, they’re in a position where they might need help, they’re most decidedly in a position where they’ve earned that help. So we want to make sure that they have that nutrition that’s enabling them to live healthier and longer lives to stay in their homes and stay active in their communities.”

May is Older Americans Month Weikert Bryant says more than 7 million seniors across the country get some or all of their meals from food banks.

Find more information about SNAP benefits here: http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap

SNAP Work Requirements Return

Published: August 27, 2015 By: Michael Gallenberger, WKVI 

Nearly 47,000 Hoosiers are at risk of losing their benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. A federal waiver letting Indiana residents forgo work requirements is expiring.

That means able-bodied adults who are between the ages of 18 and 49 and don’t have dependents will now have to demonstrate they are working or actively looking for work. Otherwise, they’ll have a time limit of three months of SNAP benefits.

But Jessica Fraser, the program manager for the Indiana Institute for Working Families, says there are ways to stay in the program, “If they begin to work 20 hours per week or if they begin to participate in an approved employment and training activity, then they would not be at jeopardy of losing their benefits.”

She says those who are at risk of losing their benefits will get the chance to have an in-person assessment, “If folks have been classified as an able-bodied dependent, then they will have received a letter from the state giving them an appointment to meet with someone and to talk about their status and to talk about what kinds of employment and training activity or work would be the right fit for them, and they will be assigned some type of activity.”

Fraser says going to that appointment is critical, “Don’t get that letter and think, ‘Well, I can’t really work, so I’m just not going to go,’ and then you’re going to lose your benefits. They need to go to their appointment and see what can be done.”

She says the waivers were put in place during the Great Recession, but with unemployment levels dropping, the waivers are going away, “States, once they reach a certain low level of unemployment rate, were going to lose these waivers, anyway. Employment rates across the country are going down low enough now that, state by state, it’s going falling off these waivers, and these requirements are going to start being the law of the land again for every state.”

If SNAP recipients aren’t able to complete the required steps, the earliest they could begin losing their benefits is November 1.