Virginia to grant eligible families additional food stamps on March 16

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — On Friday, the Virginia Department of Social Services announced that it will release emergency allocations of benefits to eligible families later this month.

Officials say the benefits will be automatically loaded onto recipients’ Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards on Wednesday, March 16. However, emergency allocation benefits are only available to current SNAP households and do not apply to Pandemic EBT recipients.

The contingency grants increase the monthly benefit amount of existing SNAP households to the maximum allowable amount based on the size of each household as follows:

Social Services advises that these benefits are only available through a public health emergency declaration, which requires a monthly renewal.

Anyone with questions should contact them local welfare office or visit CommonHelp at commonhelp.virginia.gov to access account information.

For more information about SNAP, how to apply, and other assistance programs, visit dss.virginia.gov/benefit/.