Call to Action TODAY: Disaster SNAP for Hurricane Irma

Today, U.S. Rep. Al Lawson and ten other members of the Florida Congressional delegation sent a letter (view here) to Gov. Rick Scott asking him to take steps to ensure that Floridians have adequate access to food after Hurricane Irma. The group asked the governor to seek additional assistance from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to further meet the needs of Florida’s most vulnerable citizens during this time. You can read the Press Release from Rep. Lawson’s office here. We need you to show your support for this additional assistance today.

We are especially concerned with the activation of “Disaster-SNAP” (or D-SNAP, also known as Food for Florida). D-SNAP offers replacement and supplemental benefits for regular SNAP recipients affected by Hurricane Irma, and extends benefits to many households which are ordinarily not eligible but were impacted by the disaster.

USDA has already approved Florida’s request to allow SNAP recipients to purchase hot and ready-to-eat meals and the state has issued early SNAP benefits for September. But it is critical that we show our support for the other potential requests the governor can make.

Take action now: Click this link to email the Governor to show your support. We have provided template language in italics below that you are welcome to use. Simply go to the link above, fill out your contact information—include your organization name if appropriate, use “D-SNAP” as your subject, and copy and paste the language below into the message box — be sure to include the two links:

Dear Governor Scott,

We know that you are working hard to help all of us recover from the Storm. We support the waiver requests to USDA outlined in the letter and press release below. Experience has shown that delay in requesting USDA relief can increase the suffering of those already devastated by the Storm. We are sure you are working on this, but just wanted you to know how important we think it is.

https://lawson.house.gov/sites/lawson.house.gov/files/wysiwyg_uploaded/FAL.pdf

https://lawson.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-lawson-and-florida-congressional-democrats-ask-gov-scott-guarantee-food

Thank you so much for everything you are doing to help Floridians.

If you do send your support to the Governor’s office, we’d love to know! Email us at staff@flimpact.org.