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DCFS Issues $103.8 Million in DSNAP Benefits

October 01, 2012

BATON ROUGE - The Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) today announced that the agency issued $103,842,960 in Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (DSNAP) benefits in the 21 parishes approved for assistance.

Since Sept. 5 when the program launched in nine initial parishes, 263,459 households have received assistance. The last parish to have DSNAP was East Baton Rouge Parish, which concluded on Friday, September 28.

The totals for DSNAP benefits in each parish are as follows:

Parish	DSNAP Cards	DSNAP Total
Ascension	6,084	$2,788,378
Assumption	2,220	$827,316
East Baton Rouge	34,439	$12,474,872
East Feliciana	1,680	$610,443
Iberville	2,976	$1,057,613
Jefferson	64,543	$27,222,322
Lafourche	9,782	$4,187,057
Livingston	6,959	$3,253,218
Orleans	57,995	$19,366,279
Plaquemines	3,904	$1,684,702
St. Bernard	5,333	$2,278,072
St. Charles	4,468	$1,961,889
St. Helena	1,361	$477,227
St. James	3,004	$1,149,855
St. John the Baptist	8,361	$3,457,151
St. Mary	6,373	$2,560,866
St. Tammany	14,774	$6,649,369
Tangipahoa	11,597	$4,429,426
Terrebonne	10,802	$4,602,163
Washington	5,961	$2,213,212
West Feliciana	843	$321,530

DSNAP is an income eligibility based program to assist eligible households who do not receive regular SNAP benefits and who need help buying groceries due to lost income or damages following a disaster. Eligibility is determined by federal guidelines based on income, resources and unreimbursed disaster expenses during the disaster period.

Attempts to defraud the DSNAP program will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Applicants who knowingly provide inaccurate or incomplete information as part of a DSNAP application could face criminal prosecution and disqualification of benefits. DCFS will investigate suspected fraud and aggressively pursue recoupment and possibly prosecution.

DSNAP is administered in Louisiana by DCFS and overseen by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. Read more about recipients' rights.

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