Pa. Public Welfare offices offer help for hurricane victims

Those who suffered flooding damages from Hurricane Irene can apply for short-term assistance at the Department of Public Welfare’s two Philadelphia offices until Tuesday evening. Pennsylvania’s disaster recovery centers are no longer processing applications.

“When people go to apply for the D-SNAP program, which is the Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, they will need to go to the county assistance offices, also known as the Philadelphia district offices,” said Carey Miller, a spokeswoman for the Department of Public Welfare.

“People can go in and fill out an application, then there is a waiting period for them to find out what benefits they will be able to receive,” Miller said.

The Delancey and Ridge district offices will be open until 7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday.

“We are asking for flood-affected residents to go directly to one of the two Philadelphia district offices,” said Public Welfare Secretary Gary Alexander. “Given the unexpectedly high number of people who went to the FEMA disaster recovery center in Philadelphia to apply for D-SNAP, we can no longer safely accommodate the application process at that location.”

The federally run program offers short-term assistance to those who live in an area that has been declared a disaster by the president. Their household must have sustained a loss of property, income or food due to a flood or power outage.

In addition, disaster recovery centers in Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties will stop processing D-SNAP applications. Individuals and families seeking D-SNAP benefits in those counties should go to their county assistance offices.

For more information about the Department of Public Welfare, visit the department’s website.