If your frozen food was spoiled during the Mangkhut power outages, and you're a SNAP beneficiary, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service and the Guam Department of Health and Social Services has your back.
The USDA has approved DPHSS' waiver request to issue automatic mass replacement of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for food spoilage as a result of power loss due to Typhoon Mangkhut.
The approved waiver replaces a certain percentage of SNAP benefits used to purchase food and was spoiled/destroyed during the power outage. This waiver will not require recipients to report the loss of food. SNAP recipients do not need to take action to receive the replacement benefits. Sixty percent of their September benefits will be automatically uploaded into their Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card this weekend. The benefit replacement percentage was determined by FNS, which is based on the time of the month, Guam’s benefits issuance cycle and the type of disaster. The benefits that will be generated based on calculations from September’s issuances is approximately $4.8 million. For more information, please call the Division of Public Welfare’s Bureau of Economic Security at 735-7245 or 7274.