Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
SNAP outreach helps connect eligible individuals in need of food assistance with the monthly nutrition assistance that SNAP provides. Given high rates of unemployment, poverty, and food insecurity across the nation, SNAP outreach is an appropriate intervention to help protect families from hunger and provide them with the resources they need to return to economic stability and self-sufficiency. Connecting struggling households with food assistance also has long-term payoffs for the community. Hunger increases health care costs, lowers worker productivity, exacerbates seniors’ medical conditions, harms children’s development and diminishes their educational performance—costs that we cannot afford and that undermine the fabric of our communities.
Southeast Missouri Food Bank is a part of their state’s official SNAP outreach plan aimed at reaching eligible, low-income families who are not participating in the program but who are in need of food assistance. Food banks are a natural partner in SNAP outreach because of their direct connection to food insecure families in the community. Many families seeking assistance at food pantries are in need of more than one-time, emergency food assistance. By connecting eligible families with SNAP, food banks help provide food insecure households with a more consistent and stable means to purchase their own food.
To learn more or apply for SNAP benefit, contact Neisha at 573-471-1818 or nivory@semofoodbank.org.