We are writing from the Montgomery County Food Council to provide you with food assistance resources to share with your constituents who may be experiencing food insecurity.  As you may well be aware, SNAP Emergency Allotments (EAs) that have been in place since 2020 will come to a close at the end of February due to the passage of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023. Individuals who had been receiving up to $281 a month during the pandemic could see their benefits reduced to as little as $23. SNAP recipients in Montgomery County will lose an average of $82 a month in SNAP benefits.

We anticipate this loss of benefits will result in more calls to your office from concerned residents wondering how they will be able to feed their families. They may have questions about their SNAP benefits or how they can access emergency food resources. Attached to this email are flyers detailing information about SNAP and food assistance resources in Montgomery County that you can share with constituents.

We also invite you to refer Montgomery County residents directly to the Montgomery County Food Council’s SNAP Outreach Team for assistance. As a Community Based Organization funded by the Maryland Department of Human Services’s SNAP Outreach Program, we are able to file SNAP applications for residents and assist in updating their expense deductions. We provide these services virtually, in both English and Spanish, and you may refer constituents to us by simply emailing us their name and number, or by filling out our referral form. For those constituents living outside Montgomery County, Maryland Hunger Solutions can provide the same services and can be reached at 866.821.555.

We thank you for your attention to this important issue.  If you or anyone from your office would like to speak further about SNAP, food access, or any other food systems issues, we would be happy to set up a time to talk.