Now, more than ever, we are neighbors.
Everyone is being impacted by the COVID-19 crisis, and nationwide and globally, communities are facing new challenges. SNAP is answering the call and stepping up in new and innovative ways to ensure our neighbors get support to help them through this.
Don’t delay: the needs are great and growing – your support today helps your neighbors!
The first $2,500 we receive in donations will be matched to our general fund by WSECU, and thanks to an anonymous donor, an additional $1,500 will be matched to SNAP’s endowment!
Donate today to double the impact of your gift!
As a generous supporter of SNAP, you help ensure that your neighbors are able to take care of their families and have an equal opportunity at success. As we navigate through this crisis and get our community back on track and thriving, your neighbors need you, and SNAP needs you.
Here are some of the ways SNAP has stepped up – as the situation changes and new opportunities arise, we are looking for how we can help.
- Requests for emergency energy assistance have more than doubled, and we have removed the shutoff notice requirement to allow clients to stay on top of their bills.
- If available, a portion of energy funding will be reallocated to be used as rental assistance once the moratorium on evictions is lifted.
- Partnerships with the Salvation Army, Avista, and City of Spokane enable SNAP to offer financial support for utility bills (water, sewage, garbage).
- Collaborations are underway to provide food for our homeless and food insecure neighbors without increasing their risk of exposure.
- Our home repair team continues to carry out repairs to homes that threaten owners’ safety, prioritizing issues affecting water, sewer, and heat.
Our “Cuisine for Clients” campaign is utilizing private donations to purchase meals from SNAP-supported restaurants and giving these meals to residents in our affordable housing properties; over 400 clients have received food through Week 5.
- SNAP Financial Access has been unveiling their new online learning platform to provide remote assistance and education to clients as well as helping small businesses navigate state and federal resources and applications.
- We have partnered with World Relief to staff laid-off refugees to make PPE masks for vulnerable populations.
- Our homeless services outreach team is partnering with Spokane Regional Health District, CHAS, and WSU Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine to provide street medical outreach to homeless individuals. Having a medical professional join our outreach teams allows our clients to be screened for COVID-19 as well as other health issues.
- SNAP’s Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program is launching “Connecting for a Cause” which will provide tablets for volunteers to retain face-to-face interactions while observing social distancing from residents in long-term care facilities.
Our “Spokane Ride to Health” Transportation Services colleagues are working with partners to expand support for food security transportation and prescription delivery to homebound individuals. Here is teammate, Cree, with a food delivery in the SNAP van and a mask!
Before this crisis struck, nationwide, 44% of Americans were unable cover a $400 unexpected expense. That number is going to rise, as more people face unemployment and need to reestablish themselves financially.
SNAP works with your neighbors to help them build assets and financial skills by offering educational opportunities, building an understanding of how to increase their financial stability. Many of these opportunities are now available through our new electronic learning platform, saving them the need to take part in person. SNAP also offers loans for families wanting to purchase a home or start a small business.
Over 40 million Americans live in poverty, and even more were one paycheck away from hardship before this situation. Many more have now lost that paycheck on which their families relied. These are your neighbors, and 44,766 of them received help from SNAP last year. Investing in SNAP is investing in sustainable solutions to our community’s issues and helping your neighbors reach their potential. SNAP will be needed to help our community come through this.
SNAP is committed to the Promise of Community Action: to change people’s lives, embody the spirit of hope, improve communities, and make America a better place to live. Going forward, we know our work will be even more vital. Please join us in supporting our innovative work to help our community thrive.
Sincerely,
Julie Honekamp, CEO
Thank you for being neighbors by our side