SNAP snag has Lincolnton family, others hungry for holidays
LINCOLNTON, Ga. - Nearly 20,000 Georgia families are left wondering if they’ll be able to put food on the table this Christmas.
That’s as they wait on the renewal of their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, better known as SNAP or food stamps.
The Georgia Department of Human Services says it’s working to resolve the delay in SNAP benefits, but that’s little help to Laneesha Jones, of Lincolnton.
Jones’ renewal is one of those caught in the quagmire.
Her pantry is empty, and she doesn’t know what her family will be eating this weekend, much less on Christmas.
“It’s bad, bad. People really need food,” she said. “It’s something fierce.”
She’s been trying to call her caseworker repeatedly and gotten no answer. She called the supervisor and got no answer. She called headquarters and got no answer.
She even called her old caseworker, who was puzzled by the problem but powerless to do anything about it.
If the problem can’t be solved and she can’t get some help, it will be a cold, sad holiday weekend for Jones, her boyfriend and the teenage little brother she cares for.
The Georgia Department of Human Services said it had taken steps to expedite processing applications.
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Some of those steps include bringing back retired caseworkers to help process renewals, offering overtime to expand the capacity of caseworkers, and hiring new Economic Specialist 1 workers.
“We are working closely with those on the federal level to resolve the backlog of SNAP cases,” DHS said in an email. “We are also working to improve output to ensure we are able to address changes in volume so the backlog doesn’t reoccur once resolved. While these efforts are ongoing, it must also be acknowledged that recruitment and retention remain serious challenges for every state, including Georgia.”
For now, DHS says it doesn’t have a timeline on when the SNAP backlog will be cleared.
But as of 3 p.m. Friday, the problem hadn’t been solved for Jones.
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