TOPEKA – In a federal court filing on Monday, Nov. 3, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said it plans to send out partial SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition assistance Program) benefits in November using the SNAP contingency fund. The filing said the USDA will first send each state official notice showing how much each existing SNAP household should receive. Right now, the Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF) has not received this information. Once it does, DCF will determine next steps to issue the partial payments and communicate when Kansas SNAP recipients can expect to receive them.

More information will be shared as it becomes available. To keep Kansans updated, DCF has created a webpage, dcf.ks.gov, with information about the government shutdown and impacts to DCF programs. The page includes a list of questions and answers and will be updated as new information becomes available.

Help for Kansans

For Kansans in need of additional support, Kansas Food Source, kansasfoodsource.org and Harvesters.orgprovide locations of food banks and food pantries across the state. Other non-state entities helping connect Kansans to resources in their community include: the United Way’s 211 hotline or website, 211.org; 1-800-CHILDREN, 1800childrenks.com;  Unite Kansas, uniteus.com/networks/kansas/get-helpand FindHelp, findhelp.org.

The loss of federal funding places additional stress on Kansas food banks, pantries, and meals programs, which are already strained to meet the needs of those who utilize them. Kansans wishing to help their local food resources can find those locations on the Kansas Food Source website kansasfoodsource.org.