SAN ANTONIO – Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients in 66 Texas counties can get automatic replacement benefits for spoiled or damaged food due to power and water outages in the winter storm.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday announced that the Texas Health and Human Services Commission received federal funds to automatically provide the benefits.
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“Thank you to our federal partners for approving these replacement benefits for Texans in need,” Abbott said in a news release. “As we recover from the severe winter storm, we are ensuring that Texans affected by this storm can continue to put food on the table.”
The 66 counties, which met the criteria for “mass replacements of benefits based on the severity of storm impacts in their area,” do not include Bexar or surrounding counties.
The eligible counties include Angelina, Aransas, Bastrop, Blanco, Borden, Brazoria, Brewster, Burnet, Calhoun, Chambers, Coke, Colorado, Comanche, Cooke, Delta, Duval, Eastland, Edwards, Falls, Frio, Galveston, Garza, Gillespie, Glasscock, Goliad, Haskell, Irion, Jim Wells, Kenedy, Kerr, Kinney, Knox, La Salle, Leon, Liberty, Live Oak, Llano, Loving, Lynn, Martin, Matagorda, McCulloch, Medina, Menard, Mitchell, Montgomery, Oldham, Parker, Reagan, Refugio, San Patricio, San Saba, Stephens, Sterling, Sutton, Terrell, Throckmorton, Trinity, Upton, Uvalde, Val Verde, Waller, Williamson, Young, Zapata, and Zavala.
Families in these counties do not have to take action and can expect to receive a percentage of their February benefit allotment on their Lone Star cards by March 4.
Texans who do not live in the 66 eligible counties have until March 31 to report food losses.
They can request their replacement food benefits by calling 2-1-1 and pressing option 2.
They can also download Form H1855 (Affidavit for Nonreceipt or Destroyed Food Stamp Benefits) on the HHSC website, fill it out, and mail or fax the completed form to HHSC. Completed forms should be mailed to Texas Health and Human Services Commission, PO Box 149027, Austin, TX, 78714-9027, or faxed to 1-877-447-2839.
To limit exposure to COVID-19, recipients are asked to mail or fax the form instead of visiting an office.
For more information, visit hhs.texas.gov.