State increasing food, nutrition benefits to help families

    Murphy – To ease the food insecurity made worse by Gov. Roy Cooper’s Stay-at-Home Order and business shutdowns that resulted from COVID-19, the N.C. Department of Health & Human Services has temporarily increased benefits for recipients of Food & Nutrition Services.
    “People need to be able to feed their families while also practicing good social distancing and following the governor’s Stay-at-Home Order,” DHHS Secretary Mandy Cohen said in a press release. “This will help families make fewer trips to the grocery store, and help protect themselves and those in their communities from getting sick.”
    All families that receive FNS received the maximum amount allowed for March and April, according to their household size. Households that already receive the maximum amount for their household size did not receive the temporary increase.
    Households that were ineligible in either March or April did not receive a temporary increase. All households who met the criteria received the supplemental benefits; the payouts are not based on a first-come, first-serve basis. 
    In Cherokee County, about 2,000 households receive food and nutrition benefits, totaling $405,000-450,000 per month. The supplement was around $560,000, bringing the total payout to about $1 million. However, the supplement benefit has been extended through June 30.
    DHHS received authority to implement the supplemental program from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which also approved a request from the state to allow online purchasing flexibility for FNS households. On April 19, the USDA approved a request to allow FNS recipients to use their EBT cards online at Amazon and Walmart.
    “This change allows greater flexibility for participants to obtain food, while also promoting social distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19,” said Amanda McGee, director of the Cherokee County Department of Social Services.
    “Additionally, this will help families with transportation and mobility barriers. The ability to use FNS via those two online retailers will remain in place as an ongoing opportunity beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.”
    The USDA must approve other retailers who wish to participate in the FNS online purchasing program. Amazon and Walmart are the only authorized retailers approved for online FNS purchases.
    There are about 600,000 North Carolina households participating in the FNS program.