HEALTHY eating has its monetary rewards for food stamp claimants.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has partnered with several organizations to provide matching money when recipients purchase fruits and vegetables.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) oversees SNAP.
More than 41.5million Americans receive SNAP benefits every month.
Various organizations are working with the USDA to offer more healthy options for claimants.
SNAP households are expected to spend about 30% of their own resources on food.
Read more SNAP stories
The matching dollars would be applied to fruits and vegetables - allowing consumers to get more healthy food for their households.
SNAP produce match
In Washington state, the SNAP produce match allows customers who purchase at least $10 in qualifying fruits and vegetables with their SNAP card to earn $5 credit toward their next produce purchase.
The $5 coupon will be printed at the bottom of your receipt.
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Qualifying foods are fruits and frozen fruits and vegetables without added salt, fat or sugar.
This offer is available in-store or online.
The state is partnering with the Food Co-op, Safeway stores, Seattle farmers markets and neighborhood grocers to bring claimants this added benefit.
Double Up Food Bucks
Another program offered in nearly every state matches your SNAP electronic benefit transfer (EBT) dollars when you buy qualifying fruits and vegetables.
This means SNAP customers will get double the fruits and vegetables.
Anyone who receives SNAP in Washington, DC and the following states are automatically eligible for the Double Up Food Bucks program.
- Alabama
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
South Carolina has its own matching program called Healthy Bucks.
SNAP recipients who spend at least $5 with their SNAP EBT card at participating locations will receive $10 in Healthy Bucks tokens to buy additional fresh fruits and vegetables.
Alaskans on SNAP are able to buy fruits and vegetables at Sitka local foods network and they'll get matching dollars, too.
Who is eligible for SNAP?
In order to be eligible for the SNAP benefit program, applicants must live in the state in which they apply and meet certain bank balance limits.
A household with someone over age 60 or a disabled household member may have a higher bank balance limit.
The total amount of SNAP benefits your household gets each month is called an allotment.
The USDA said the maximum monthly allotment is based on household size.
For example, a family of four, the maximum allotment is $835.
Read More on The US Sun
Read More on The US Sun
The Sun explains when you need to re-certify to continue receiving SNAP benefits.
Plus. how the Social Security COLA increase affects your SNAP benefits.
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