Amazing things are happening in our community! While we all work through this situation and find a ‘new normal’, SNAP and partner agencies are being innovative as we continue supporting some of our most vulnerable neighbors.

Here are some ways SNAP is going above and beyond amid this community crisis to help our neighbors stay safe, healthy, and warm.

  1. Our Energy team is supporting clients with assistance grants to stave off the hardship of financial loss. Requests for emergency assistance have more than doubled, and we have removed the requirement for a shutoff notice to allow them to stay on top of their bills
  2. Partnerships with the Salvation Army, City of Spokane, and Avista have enabled SNAP to now offer UHELP assistance with utilities (water, sewage, garbage) to aid families who are facing hardship.
  3. Collaboration across multiple SNAP departments has enabled SNAP to team up with Blessings Under the Bridge and New Leaf Bakery to provide additional access to food for our homeless and food insecure neighbors who face extra challenges at this time.
  4. Our Home Repair team continues to carry out repairs to homes that threaten owners’ safety, prioritizing issues affecting water, sewer, and heat.
  5. SNAP Financial Access has been ramping up use of their new learning platform to provide remote assistance and education to clients.
  6. SNAP’s Women’s Business Center is helping small businesses navigate state and federal resources and applications.
  7. SNAP has partnered with World Relief to staff sewing artisans who had been laid off in the wake of COVID-19 to make PPE masks for vulnerable populations.
  8. SNAP’s Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program is working on a program titled “Connecting for a Cause” that provides tablets for our ombudsman to have remote Zoom meetings with their residents to retain that face-to-face interaction while observing social distancing.
  9. 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.
  10. Our Homeless Services outreach team are 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 long-standing health issues.

For over 54 years, SNAP has stayed resilient and responsive to community needs. Today we are thinking on our feet for how to best serve clients in need, many of whom will face significant financial trouble in the months to come. This will have an impact on our entire community.

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.

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.

I want to support my neighbors

We are so grateful to YOU. Thank you for supporting your neighbors, now and always. It is because of our collaboration and innovation that we are going to come through this crisis and THRIVE again as a community.