D-SNAP application period over, approved applicants to wait for benefits

The deadline for Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (D-SNAP) applications has come and gone.  Throughout the past several days,  many of you were waiting for hours under the sun or in the rain for your turn.  Now it’s all hands on deck for Public Health officials to process those applications.

The application period has concluded, so now the wait begins for those expecting to see their benefits loaded into their EBT cards. "D-SNAP application process ended on Saturday, and we are working diligently, all hands on deck still to get the people who applied who were approved their benefits. So we’re still working on that," explained Department of Public Health spokesperson Don Sulat.

He told KUAM News, says it’s a team approach for the agency, who is working full steam ahead to process thousands of applications.  Preliminary reports showing a total of 35,206 applicants having applied for the disaster benefit.  Of those, 34,073 applicants were approved. - about 96% of total applicants. 

But this figure is subject to change as officials review each application. "Keep in mind, this number is subject to change as we are keying them into our system," Sulat noted. "So what that means is that maybe there’s discrepancies that we are looking at right now so that number may go up or down depending."

Sulat also asking for patience as it may take longer than anticipated for applicants to see their benefits due to the high volume of applications.  "We are working on that. We thank everybody again for their patience. We know they waited in line. We are asking them to be patient some more. Again like I mentioned earlier, we are all hands on deck on getting all those benefits out in a timely process and yeah right now people are keying in. we are working on getting them to see that," he said.

Those who applied on or before June 24 who have no discrepancies in their applications may receive their benefits on Monday after 7pm.  Public Health officials are currently processing individuals who applied on June 25 and June 26. 

"Please again check into the numbers on the pamphlet that you are provided. And we will keep you and the rest of the media partners informed as we move forward to see if there are any other hiccups on the road," Sulat suggested. "Or to let you guys know if all of these are loaded to see if it's an isolated incident from the first day if they didn’t get their benefits, there may be a discrepancy we need to check up on. And again we are calling those who may have a discrepancy as stated earlier in our press release."

D-SNAP participants are also reminded that their benefits will be valid for 274 days.