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Special to The Daily News

The Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) is beginning a three-month process of transitioning its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits schedule to distribute benefits more evenly throughout each month. Rather than receiving their benefits during the 1st through 14th of each month, SNAP households will soon receive them between the 1st and 23rd of each month.

The new regular schedule, which will go into effect in February of 2021, will allow for more even stocking and staffing at grocery stores and more consistent access to a variety of foods for shoppers, as households typically do their shopping on or shortly after the day their benefits are issued.

DCFS also received approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) to issue supplemental SNAP benefits for December to families not already receiving the maximum allotment for their household size. The supplemental benefits were scheduled to be loaded onto recipients’ EBT cards on Friday, Dec. 4. In prior months, supplements have been issued after regular SNAP benefits, but for December, some households will receive their supplement before their regular benefit. The maximum monthly allotments by household size can be found at www.dcfs.la.gov/page/snap-allotment-amounts.

Over the next three months, SNAP issuance dates will transition to the new schedule, with no recipient going more than 40 days between monthly issuances, per federal regulations. Recipients who are elderly or disabled will continue to receive their benefits on the 1st through the 4th of each month. Other recipients’ issuance dates will shift according to the schedule seen in the photo.

*The last month in which SNAP benefits were issued on the “old schedule” was August. Since then, benefits have been issued early, on the 1st of each month for September, October and November, due to the overlapping circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic and multiple hurricanes.

For example, recipients whose Social Security Number ends in 9, and who are not classified as elderly or disabled, will receive their December benefits on Dec. 10, their January benefits on Jan. 18, and their February benefits on Feb. 23. Their regular benefit issuance date will then be the 23rd of each month.

SNAP recipients should familiarize themselves with their upcoming issuance dates and budget accordingly.

For more information about SNAP benefits changes, visit www.dcfs.la.gov/snapstorms.