Food Access and COVID-19

• SNAP is for you. SNAP is for now. Food benefits will be available with more flexibility and some people will receive higher monthly amounts during the pandemic.
  • You do not need to go into a Department of Human Services office to get service. You can call or email a DHS office to access an applications in multiple languages (or you can apply online in English), submit information or paperwork, report changes and/or to conduct an interview. DHS created fillable PDFs of the SNAP application in many languages that can be submitted by email to [email protected]. Find DHS office information including phone numbers here.
  • Oregon continues to not require interviews for the majority of people applying for or recertifying SNAP if DHS has all the information they need to process an application. A DHS worker may get in touch with you by phone if they need to clarify anything from your application.
  • If you have recently been laid off or had work hours cut, you may be eligible for SNAP. You can apply for SNAP even if your last 30 days of income are not representative of what your income will be moving forward. DHS takes recent changes in your situation into account right away when determining benefits. More information is available here in English, Spanish, Arabic, Vietnamese, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Russian, and Somali.
  • DHS can mail a SNAP EBT cards to you, this just needs to be requested. One way to request an EBT card mailed to you and to set-up your pin is to call the toll-free Oregon EBT Customer Service Help Line at 1-888-997-4447. Make sure DHS has an accurate mailing address for you that you can access. DHS offices are still open and they have implemented social distancing practices, so you can pick up an EBT card in-person if that is preferred (some offices are even providing curbside service).
• The recent COVID relief bill passed by congress in December 2020 boosted SNAP benefits by 15% through June 30, 2021. All SNAP participants will start to see these additional benefits starting January 2021. Learn more here.
• DHS is issuing emergency extra SNAP benefits to many SNAP households to help buy food during the COVID-19 pandemic. If your monthly SNAP benefit is less than the maximum amount for your household, you will get a supplemental benefit up to the maximum SNAP amount for your household size. If you already get the maximum SNAP benefit, you will not get extra SNAP. Extra SNAP will be added to EBT cards each month throughout the federal emergency pandemic declaration.
• Recently the Food and Nutrition Service (that manages the SNAP program at the federal level) changed the way they are issuing emergency extra SNAP benefits that have been available throughout the pandemic. This means moving forward, Oregon Department of Human Services will now start issuing extra emergency SNAP benefits to:
  • SNAP participants who did not receive them in the past – those that are already at the maximum benefit amount for their household size. These participants will receive an additional $95 in benefits.
  • Those who, in the past, only received a small amount (less than $95) of the emergency benefits – these households will get up to $95 (the difference between what they were receiving before and $95).
  • Along with continuing to issue extra benefits for all SNAP participants to get to the maximum amount for their household size, as has been the case since early on in the pandemic. Households that currently receive more than $95 in these emergency benefits won’t see a change in the amount they receive.
  • This change gets more benefits to SNAP participants who have the lowest incomes. The first issuance of additional benefits for these new groups will be April 30th. This will happen automatically with these benefits being added directly to participants EBT cards.
• You can now use EBT to order food online through Amazon and Walmart for home delivery across Oregon. Please note that there are delivery fees (which SNAP benefits cannot pay for).  For those 60+, local Area Agencies on Aging may be able to cover delivery fees for SNAP online purchase, please reach out to the office in your area directly about this, find this information at adrcoforegon.org.
• Time limits are now suspended across Oregon. This means that those considered Able Bodied Adults without Dependents (ABAWDs) do not need to meet work requirements in order to continue receiving SNAP. No SNAP benefits will be reduced or cut off for participants because of not meeting work requirements. If you have been cut off SNAP because of time limits in the past, please reapply as you may now be eligible. More information is available in English, Spanish, Arabic, Vietnamese, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Russian, and Somali.

Meals available to children during the summer months:

• Summer Meals are available during the pandemic! During the summer, free meals are available at schools and other community locations to all children ages 1 to 18 to pick up “grab and go” style.
• To receive a summer meal:
  • You do not have to attend that specific school or district to have receive a meal from that site.
  • No application or income verification is needed.
  • Meals are available to students regardless of immigration status.
• To find a site, visit summerfoodoregon.org/map, call 2-1-1, or text “FOOD” or “COMIDA”  to 877-877 or check in with your school district or local organization on how they are serving meals.
• The way that meals are delivered can vary by school district or organization, including:
  • Picking up a meal “grab and go” style directly from a meal site
  • Home delivery directly to a student’s home
  • Delivery by previous school bus route to a meal pick-up hub
  • Not requiring a child to be present if a parent or guardian is picking up the meal
  • Providing breakfast and lunch for multiple days at a time

Please note that these methods for serving meals are not universal, it will vary by school district or organization. The best way to find out your local information is to call your school district or visit their website.

• Oregon was approved to provide another round of Pandemic EBT benefits for the 2020-2021 school year to families whose children receive free and reduced-price school meals in Oregon. More benefits could also be provided over summer 2021 to cover food when children are out of school for the summer – more details to come on this.
• Pandemic EBT (P-EBT) provides families financial support to cover the cost of school meals during school closures, reduced hours and attendance, or remote learning. This benefit is provided to ALL families whose children receive free and reduced-price school meals in Oregon or attend a school where meals are provided for free to all students during a typical school year. This includes children enrolled in a K-12 school, school-based preschool, or school based Headstart that normally participate in the National School Lunch Program. Additionally, in this new round of P-EBT, children 0-6 years old who receive SNAP will also receive P-EBT benefits.
• Benefits will be distributed retroactively to cover school meals from October 2020 to May 2021 and will be dispersed starting the end of July 2021 through September 2021. These benefits will be available to you to use for a full year.
  
• Benefits will be issued based on the status of schools (fully remote, hybrid, or fully in-person) during a given month in an eligible child’s school district.
• To read more about Pandemic EBT, check out our Pandemic EBT resources page with materials in eight languages.

• WIC is available. WIC clients no longer need to show up in-person for appointments. Some other requirements have been altered or waived, including signatures and between visit information collection.
• Some offices are providing drive-by services.
• An online version of the WIC application is available. You can find that here. WIC staff will contact you after you fill out and submit the online form.
• There is a temporarily expanded food list during this crisis, to make it easier for participants to buy food.
• WIC is excluding one-time stimulus payments from income eligibility
• WIC-approved infant formula should be available at all major grocery stores and pharmacies. If you don’t see it stocked on the shelves, visit customer service to check-in.
• WIC is available to families regardless of immigration status.
• For more information, visit the WIC site here.

• The COVID relief bill passed in December 2020 expanded SNAP eligibility for college students – allowing more students to qualify without meeting work requirements. Students can now qualify for SNAP if they:
  • Eligible for work study – students do not need to have a work study position or award
  • Have an Estimated Family Contribution (EFC) of $0 on FAFSA

  College students can still qualify for SNAP in many other ways, see our SNAP for students page here.

• The Hope Center put out a guide for College Supporting Students During COVID-19 that contains tips that can help administration support students as they are working on managing the COVID-19 situation. We know college closures are impacting students access to food, healthcare, and housing, so please consider connecting students to emergency funds, continuing to operate your food pantry or creating other service models for this food, and connecting students to SNAP.
• If you have federal student loans, your monthly federal student loan payments will be suspended until September and, during this time, no additional interest will accrue.
• If you participate in a federal work study program, but that work has been disrupted by COVID-19, you will still receive your payments.
• If you drop out of school because of the coronavirus, this academic term won’t count toward your lifetime subsidized loan eligibility or Pell Grant eligibility. Also your grades will not affect your grant or student loan eligibility. You are also not required to return unused Pell funding or federal student loans should you drop out of school because of coronavirus.
• For more information on how to apply for SNAP as a student, click here.

• Oregon Food Bank will be keeping their Find Food page updated as pantries’ emergency hours and operations change. Keep checking the page for up-to-date information about the closest food pantry in your area.
• As our communities deal with the outbreak of COVID-19, commonly called Coronavirus, Oregon Food Bank is closely monitoring the situation and building contingency plans to keep food moving to partner community food programs and Free Food Markets.
• Food boxes are available to people regardless of immigration status.

• Meals on Wheels People dining centers will be providing take-home meals to its constituents in Multnomah, Washington and Clark counties, in an effort to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
• Meals on Wheels home-delivery will continue uninterrupted using a non-contact delivery method.
• For up-to-date information on what is happening at Meals on Wheels People during this health emergency, call their COVID-19 Hotline at 503.953.8158.
• Aging and Disability Resource Connection of Oregon has information on statewide senior meal access and delivery.
• Meals are available to people regardless of immigration status.

• Some of our partners have built a nationwide spreadsheet of resources for those without documentation.  A local resource page is being developed and will be made available when finished
• Protecting Immigrant Families Campaign has compiled a list of Immigrant Eligibility for Public Programs During COVID-19.

• We, along with the Oregon Hunger Task Force, hosted an Emergency Webinar: Creating Food Access in a Pandemic on Thursday, March 19, 12:00 – 1:00 pm PST. With schools closed and jobs suspended due to coronavirus, Oregonians are finding ourselves not only in the midst of an urgent public health crisis, but also wondering how we will put food on the table. This webinar invited anti-hunger organizations, direct service nonprofits, community groups, and individuals to gather online to share information, identify problems, build solutions, and coordinate our efforts. The recording is available here.
• As a response to COVID-19, Familias en Acción is sharing food resources available for the Latinx Community. They are hosting webinars in the coming weeks, to learn together how to access food during this pandemic. These webinars will be in Spanish. For more information and to register, please contact Alejandra Gurrola at [email protected]
• We have compiled information on employment and bill resources, including unemployment benefits, utilities and day care resources.  Read more here.
• Oregon Employment Department has put together this quick checklist for unemployment eligibility. Learn more about unemployment benefits at their page here.
• Oregon Department of Education Early Learning Division has put together this quick guide to getting child care if you are an essential worker.
• Rep. Earl Blumenauer’s (OR-3) office has put together a comprehensive spreadsheet of emergency relief resources in the Portland metro area. Access that here.
• Project Access NOW is providing support to those seeking health coverage in Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas Counties. Get help with healthcare access here.
• Oregon Law Center has created this comprehensive document on stimulus payments from the CARES Act, including information on eligibility and how non-filers can apply.
• Oregon Department of Human Services has put together this overview of frequently asked questions on stimulus checks  Note: The stimulus check is considered a tax rebate and does not count against TANF or SNAP eligibility.