January 15, 2021
(Des Moines, Iowa) – A Presidential Disaster Declaration has been issued for Clinton County. This allows the Department of Human Services to offer the Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (D-SNAP) for those Iowans impacted by the derecho that moved through Iowa on Aug. 10 and caused subsequent power outages.
The United States Department of Agriculture and DHS have approved D-SNAP for affected individuals in Clinton County who had a derecho-related loss and qualify based on income and resources between Aug. 10 and Sept. 8.
Those who are eligible to receive D-SNAP benefits will receive food assistance dollars on an electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card that is equivalent to the maximum allotment of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for their household size. D-SNAP benefits can be used for food purchases at any SNAP-authorized retailer, including farmers markets and certain online retailers. For a complete list of authorized retailers, please see the USDA SNAP retailer locator.
Note: Those who already received Food Assistance or SNAP benefits in August or September 2020 are not eligible for D-SNAP, because maximum allotments were already issued for those households due to the ongoing COVID-19 emergency.
D-SNAP uses different qualifying rules than regular Food Assistance or SNAP. If you would not normally qualify for Food Assistance, based on income, you may qualify for D-SNAP if you lived in Clinton County as of Aug. 10, and have suffered one or more of the following disaster-related expenses:
- Destroyed or spoiled food
- Lost or no access to income due to the disaster, including reduced, terminated or delayed receipt of income
- Home or business repairs
- Temporary shelter expenses
- Evacuation or relocation expenses
- Home or business protection
- Disaster-related personal injury
Due to COVID-19, applications and interviews will be completed via phone.
Between Jan. 19 and Jan. 22, applicants can call 563-239-2872 to set up an appointment for a phone interview that will be held on the following dates and times:
- Monday, Jan. 25 – Thursday, Jan. 28 from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
- Friday, Jan. 29 from 8:30 a.m. to noon
For more information visit: https://dhs.iowa.gov/d_snap_faq.
Program Contact:
Clinton County DHS office
563-239-2872
Media contact:
Matt Highland
mhighla@dhs.state.ia.us
515-281-4848