USDA-Approved SNAP Replacement Delivers $539,891 to 3,755 St. Thomas–St. John Households After WAPA Outages

The V.I. Department of Human Services has distributed $539,891 in emergency Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits to 3,755 households on St. Thomas and St. John, following federal approval to replace food lost during widespread power outages that began October 21. The benefits were automatically loaded onto eligible residents' Electronic Benefit Transfer cards on Saturday, November 7, two days after the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service approved a mass replacement waiver requested by Human Services Commissioner Averil George. The approval, confirmed on USDA's disaster assistance website, authorized replacement benefits equal to 30 percent of the regular SNAP assistance households received in the month preceding the October 21 outages. Replacement amounts were rounded up to the nearest dollar. According to the Department of Human Services' November 9 announcement, qualifying recipients in seven ZIP codes received their replacement assistance wit...