CONCORD, NH – The more than 75,000 New Hampshire residents who rely on SNAP to put food on the table will get a boost from the state government after the Executive Council Wednesday approved a plan to provide up to $2 million to the New Hampshire Food Bank.
The Council vote Wednesday came after approval Tuesday by the Legislative Fiscal Committee to use up to $2 million from the state’s Medicaid Enhancement Tax revenues so the New Hampshire Food Bank can add to its mobile food pantry program, exclusively for people who get Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program [SNAP] benefits.
SNAP benefits likely won’t be available beginning Saturday because of the federal government shutdown, the first time in the program’s 61-year history that benefits have been interrupted.
The New Hampshire contingency plan will take about a week to put into place, officials said. New Hampshire Food Bank officials met later Wednesday to nail down details of how the plan will work.
The plan calls for New Hampshire Food Bank to open additional mobile food pantries, and on additional days, that would be exclusively for SNAP recipients. It doesn’t replace the SNAP benefit for all of the more than 75,000 people, representing about 46,000 households, in the state who get the benefit, at an average of $169.54 a month per person.
The contract between the state Department of Health and Human Services and NH Food Bank says that if the federal government shutdown ends, or benefits are restored, it will be terminated.
The goal of DHHS with the contract is that two additional NH Food Bank mobile food pantries are provided specifically for SNAP recipients each week, and that existing food pantries get increased food items specifically for SNAP participants.
“[DHHS] and [NH Food Bank] will make every effort to ensure dates, times, locations and other key information is publicized to ensure SNAP participants have access to supplemental food resources,” the contract says.
The plan is a “Band-Aid” that will help, but not make up for the $12.6 million a month the state distributes in SNAP benefits, DHHS Commissioner Lori Weaver said Tuesday.
Weaver said Wednesday that the New Hampshire Food Bank “will be working with us and our staff to look at where the greatest need is.” The Food Bank distributes to 417 partners across the state, including food pantries, soup kitchens, senior centers, and more.
Officials said they are also working to direct people affected by loss of SNAP benefits to local food pantries and other food distribution sites.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture directed states not to pay SNAP benefits for November in light of the government shutdown, and $6 billion in contingency funds that Congress set up to pay SNAP benefits if the regular appropriation isn’t available or falls short won’t be used to cover November benefits, the USDA said. Some 26 states, including New Hampshire’s five New England neighbors, filed a suit in U.S. District Court Tuesday seeking an injunction that would force the USDA to use the money.