Disaster food relief benefits available to area residents this week - KRIS Corpus Christi News

Disaster food relief benefits available to area residents this week - KRIS Corpus Christi News
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Disaster food relief benefits are being rolled out to residents in seven additional counties affected by Hurricane Harvey. Benefits for Nueces, Aransas, San Patricio and Refugio Counties will be available starting Tuesday, September 19.

Texas Health and Human Services announced on Friday that it would be offering Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (D-SNAP) benefits to residents in Aransas, Brazoria, Calhoun, Nueces, Polk, Refugio and San Patricio counties starting September 18 or 19, in addition to the 11 initial counties previously announced. They noted that more counties would be announced soon.

In addition, displaced residents from one of the now 18 counties receiving D-SNAP who cannot travel back to their home county can go to any local HHS benefits office in the state to apply.

D-SNAP benefits are available to eligible people who are residents of one of the counties with a federal disaster declaration who weren't receiving benefits through regular SNAP at the time of the disaster. Recipients will be given a Lone Star Card that will be loaded within three days with funds to purchase food from most grocery stores.

Residents of the affected counties may be eligible if they suffered damage to their home or business, loss of income or disaster-related expenses. Disaster-related expenses can include home repairs, temporary shelter or evacuation expenses. When applying, households must bring identification such as a driver's license or other government-issued photo identification.

Benefits will be given to residents for two months when their cards load. The benefit amount relates to the maximum amount normally issued to a SNAP household of their size.

To apply, residents will need to report on a day based alphabetically on their last name.

For Brazoria, Calhoun and Polk Counties, which open Sept. 18, the rollout is:

Sept. 18 - Last Names starting with A-C

Sept. 19 - Last Names starting with D-H

Sept. 20 - Last Names starting with I-M

Sept. 21 - Last Names starting with N-R

Sept. 22 - Last Names starting with S-Z

Sept. 23-24* - Anyone

*Polk County event will end Sept. 23 due to the Livingston Municipal Library being closed Sundays.

For Aransas, Nueces, Refugio and San Patricio counties, which open Sept. 19, the rollout is:

Sept. 19 - Last Names starting with A-C

Sept. 20 - Last Names starting with D-H

Sept. 21 - Last Names starting with I-M

Sept. 22 - Last Names starting with N-R

Sept. 23 - Last Names starting with S-Z

Sept. 24-25* - Anyone

New locations and dates for those areas are as follows:

Aransas County Residents
301 N. Live Oak, Rockport
Sept. 19 to 25

Brazoria County Residents
1524 E. Mulberry, Angleton
Brazoria County East Annex
Sept. 18 to 24

Calhoun County Residents
400 Tiney Browning Blvd., Port Lavaca
Walmart Parking Lot, HHS Mobile Site
Sept. 18 to 24

Nueces County Residents
1901 N. Shoreline Blvd., Corpus Christi
American Bank Center, Second Floor
Sept. 19 to 25

Polk County Residents
707 N. Tyler Ave., Livingston
Livingston Municipal Library
Sept. 18 to 23
Note: Library closed Sunday

Refugio County Residents
Residents can apply at the locations in Aransas or San Patricio counties. There are no HHS offices in Refugio County.

San Patricio County Residents
1115 E. Sinton St., Sinton
Texas HHS Office
Sept. 19 to 25

Full information on the 18 counties currently approved is available from this website.

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