Aw, SNAP (or VISTAs and food stamps)

Plenty of jobs come with perks. For some these come in the form of company cars, dental insurance, or a spending allowance. For VISTAs, it’s food stamps. On second thought, food stamps aren’t so much a perk as a necessity. The only kind of living you can really do on a VISTA “living stipend” is eat, sleep, and go to work. By taking taking care of the “eat” part, food stamps help you feel a little less broke at the end of the month.

For the uninitiated, the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) provides support to those in poverty in the form of food stamps. Run under different names in every state (example: EBT or Link in Illinois, CalFresh in California), SNAP benefits have long since abandoned actual stamps for ATM-style cards. The concept is still the same: those who qualify are given a set amount of assistance every month based primarily on their income. And since VISTAs are all paid at or near the poverty line, all VISTAs qualify for food stamps.

While web-based applications make applying for food stamps very easy, that’s only half the battle. Inefficient bureaucracies, confusing policies, and other factors make many VISTAs lose their appetite for the whole thing. But believe me, it’s worth it. After checking out various VISTA conversations and resources, we’ve put together a few tips for those of you who are thinking about getting Food Stamps:

Check out the table at the bottom of this post for links to state-specific resources.

A Note on Necessity
First, I’d like to respond to some VISTAs who’ve said they won’’t apply for food stamps because they feel “embarrassed” or they don’t want to “take advantage of the system.” First of all, there’s nothing to be ashamed of. You will be working hard to serve your country, full-time, and these benefits are meant to give you a little more breathing room. Secondly, by accepting these benefits you are not stealing food from others or doing something else unduly selfish. Indeed, The New York Times reported recently that food stamps are becoming increasingly common, even featuring an Americorps member who said, “a food bank worker urged him and fellow volunteers to apply, arguing that there was enough aid to go around.” So suck up your pride and apply. Believe me, you’ll be glad you did.

Get an Advocate
Something I didn’t do but that’s been very useful for other VISTAs is connecting with your area food pantry or another social service agency that can help you apply for food stamps. These people deal with bureaucracies on a regular basis and are full of useful information, possible shortcuts, and advice. It’s also good to have someone you can call if something goes wrong other than your usual VISTA contacts.

Check Your Eligibility
For SNAP benefits, the less money you make on a monthly basis, the more support you are eligible to receive from the government. And, since your income is supposed to be excluded from consideration in any federal program (just wave your handy-dandy “income exclusion” letter) you should receive the maximum amount of benefits, right? Not necessarily.

While everything you need to know can be found in the section of the Handbook that discusses food stamps, it basically comes down to this: your living stipend should technically be excluded but it probably isn’t. This weird technicality doesn’t effect members of Americorps programs other than VISTA, and it remains unclear why it exists at all. Still, even with your entire stipend counted you will qualify for some assistance. To determine exactly how much you can check out the SNAP Pre-Screening Eligibility Tool.

Loophole: Apply Yesterday
For those VISTAs who haven’t started work at their site- or who have access to a time machine- your income can be excluded if you apply BEFORE you begin your year of service. I’m not sure why this is, but it’s pretty much layed out in the handbook: “If you apply for food stamps after you become an AmeriCorps VISTA member, you will have a decreased food stamp allotment” (italics mine). So if you’re debating applying, you should do it now.

The Interview
After submitting your application, it may take a few weeks but you will receive something in the mail from your friendly SNAP agency. This notice will inform you that in order to receive any benefits you need to supply certain materials and complete an interview. While some of you may have the option of a phone-based interview (=awesome), most of you will be given the time of an in-person interview at your local SNAP office. These social service agencies are only open during regular business hours, so you will probably have to take the day off (some sites don’t count it against your 20 vacation/sick days).

Bring a Book-
While food stamps are handled by a different agency in every state, they all generally have a reputation that mirrors that of the DMV: too little staff, too high demand, and wait times that can border on extreme. While my own wait was only three hours, I’ve heard some VISTAs waiting as long as eight. Yes, I know you may have an appointment, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to see you at that time. So bring a book, an iPod, that screenplay you’ve been tinkering with– whatever, because you’re going to be waiting a while.

And Bring EVERYTHING ELSE
Read the letter you get from the SNAP office very carefully and make sure you bring everything it tells you to. This may seem straightforward but you don’t want to show up unprepared. Usually the list includes:

• Paystubs for the past month (if you have any)
• Copies of a “rent receipt” (or the lease for your place)
• Your Social Security card and Driver’s License/ state ID

You should also bring:

• Your income exclusion letter (from the Americorps Portal)
• A letter from your Supervisor explaining your role as a VISTA
• Copies of your major bills (electric and gas)
• A smile for your case worker- it can’t hurt

Interview Tips
This part of the process is fairly straightforward. Be polite and answer any questions your case worker might have. You don’t need me to tell you this, but after you’ve been waiting for a while your first instinct (as mine was) might be to complain. But believe me, they’ve heard it before and there’s no good that can come of it.

One thing you should be sure to do before leaving your meeting is get the information of your case worker. Often times they don’t offer it up and it isn’t mentioned in any of the forms you get in the mail. But it can be invaluable to have the contact information of an actual human being if something should go wrong.

Go shopping!
A few weeks after your interview you should receive notice of how much you’re entitled to and that you will be receiving your benefit card in a separate mailing. During this period, look very carefully at your junk mail. Many SNAP agencies utilize third parties to mail the cards to their clients to prevent them from being stolen from the mail. Thus, your card may not be in a clearly-labeled envelope from your agency but in a nondescript one that looks like another Credit Card application.

Anyways, once you receive and activate your card you can head out to the nearest food retailer that accepts SNAP benefits, which is nearly everything. From Jewel-Osco to Whole Foods, and including bulk grocers like Sam’s Club and Costco, there are plenty of places that accept food stamps. Benefit programs like Angel Food Ministries and The Treasure Box swap food stamps for boxes of quality food and produce. Even your local farmer’s market may accept them!  And even if you head out of state, you can take your card and use it on the road.

In the end, food stamps are worth any pains they may take to get, as they will help you live a little bit more comfortably on a VISTA’s living stipend. What has your experience with food stamps been like? Any tips or horror stories that you would like to share with VISTAs? Please share them all in the comments section below.

Also, if you know of any good resources about food stamps in your state, add a link to the comments section below or drop me a line on Twitter (@miketewing) and I will add it to the table.

Guide to government food stamps websites

Alabama	Alaska	Arizona	Arkansas
California * Guide to the Food Stamp Program	Colorado	Connecticut	Delaware
Florida	Georgia	Hawaii	Idaho
Illinois * SNAP Calculator	Indiana	Iowa	Kansas
Kentucky	Louisiana	Maine	Maryland
Massachusetts	Michigan	Minnesota	Mississippi
Missouri	Montana	Nebraska	Nevada
New Hampshire	New Jersey	New Mexico	New York
North Carolina	North Dakota	Ohio	Oklahoma
Oregon	Pennsylvania	Rhode Island	South Carolina
South Dakota	Tennessee	Texas	Utah
Vermont	Virginia	Washington	West Virginia
Wisconsin	Wyoming

Tags: Americorps, apply, benefits, budget, buy, food, food stamps, government, groceries, SNAP, tips, VISTA