Number of SNAP Recipients Surpasses 500,000 in July

OKLAHOMA CAPITOL -- For the first time ever, more than 500,000 Oklahomans received Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits in a single month, according to officials at the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. 
In July 2009, 509,627 people received SNAP benefits, an increase of 17,713 individuals over the previous month. Also for the first time in the program’s history, there were 217,340 SNAP cases in July 2009, an increase of more than 9,000 cases over the previous month.

“We are fortunate to have the state and federal resources needed to help the children and families who need SNAP benefits to feed themselves,” said OKDHS Director Howard H. Hendrick. “Our staff is adding more than 750 Oklahomans a day to the SNAP rolls, with the lowest error rate in our region and the lowest error rate in state history.”

Hendrick said the growing numbers of SNAP recipients equates to 14 percent of all Oklahomans and more than 25 percent of Oklahoma children. The average benefit is about $3.50 per person, per day, he added.

“It will take a great deal of individual and collective efforts to develop the higher paying jobs needed to turn these numbers around. More than 80 percent of the program participants are either children or persons with other income. So, many recipients are simply the working poor,” Hendrick noted. “Healthy families and good paying jobs that produce globally competitive products and services are the keys to recovery. Hard work on the part of all of us is the fastest way out of this economic downturn.”

Within the last six months alone, the number of SNAP recipients has increased by 15 percent.

With the passage of the federal stimulus bill, Oklahomans who receive SNAP benefits now have more buying power at the grocery store. Items not allowed to be purchased are cleaning products, paper goods, personal-care items, tobacco products, alcoholic beverages, household items, prepared foods and vitamins or medicine.

Beginning in April 2009, additional benefits from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 were automatically added to SNAP recipients’ Access Oklahoma Electronic Benefits Transfer card. The maximum monthly allotment for a four-person household in Oklahoma increased from $588 to $668.

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