FOOD STAMPS

Most of us know that unless you have children or other special circumstances, you cannot get food stamps in Florida while on unemployment benefits if you get the max weekly amount. The law that put some people just over the line for eligibility because of that extra $25 per week was changed on Nov 6 with the passage of HR 3548, allowing states to ignore that extra cash when considering income for food stamp applications.

Even without that some may remain eligible, but with the end of all benefits for many of us coming up in a few months and the likelihood of another extension, at least one without a large gap in payments, extremely uncertain, some may want to plan ahead and apply for food stamps a little before their expected exhaustion of benefits.

This link is the online application. You can also use the Pre-screening app to check if you are eligible for food stamps or other benefits. http://www.myflorida.com/accessflorida/

You can contact the United Way of Florida, here is a link for local area offices in Florida:

http://www.uwof.org/local/index.htm

Call the office in your area, they will ask some basic info, and set up an appointment at a local food source. They also provide info for help with housing assistance, Utilities and more, and it doesn't hurt to volunteer to help them

I called the Volusia County office today 386-253-0563, press 2 for assistance, I have an appointment today for help with food

If you have questions about elibility for food stamps, this link gives the rules in Florida:

http://www.dcf.state.fl.us/programs/access/docs/fsfactsheet.pdf

You can also step through the pre-screening tool using the link in the first post.