Project Bread Launches Enhanced GettingSNAP.org

Submitted by Project Bread.

With many families continuing to struggle to make ends meet, Project Bread has launched a useful, new version of its groundbreaking website www.gettingSNAP.org. The site serves as a confidential online resource for families and individuals seeking to explore their eligibility for SNAP benefits. SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and was formerly known as the Food Stamp Program. 

The appealing new design, available in English and Spanish, features easy-to-use navigational tools, comprehensive information about the SNAP program, and an improved calculator, which allows the user to determine his or her SNAP benefit amount. It also offers a unique new chat feature that enables visitors to live text questions to Project Bread’s FoodSource Hotline counselors, who are thoroughly trained in the program.

“In this economy, we have to provide people with as much help as possible in accessing healthy food,” said Ellen Parker, executive director of Project Bread. “The new SNAP website allows visitors to find out if they are eligible for benefits with an estimate of what they might receive. Their information is completely confidential.

Continued Parker: “This website is designed to help dispel the stigma around applying for SNAP and teach people that they have a right to the nutrition benefits that will help their family remain healthy. In July of this year, the average monthly household benefit was $238.00. This can go a long way toward helping people buy healthy food.

In addition to these features, the website also features a new train-the-trainer component, which is a useful resource for counselors throughout the state doing SNAP outreach in the community. This component offers the latest information on SNAP benefits, regulations, verifications, prescreening, and application assistance. 

Originally launched in 2001, Project Bread’s www.gettingSNAP.org featured the first-ever online SNAP eligibility calculator in the country. The website has grown in popularity over the years, with 659,872 unique visitors in 2010. Once a user determines that she qualifies for SNAP, the site offers information on how to start a successful enrollment process. The website’s connection to Project Bread’s FoodSource Hotline provides the user with answers to their questions – and the Hotline counselors can help callers complete the application process. The site also provides food resources for those whose income does not allow them to qualify for SNAP.

SNAP is a federal nutrition program that helps food-insecure people purchase nutritious food. The program is the cornerstone of our country’s nutrition safety net and is effective in preventing and alleviating food insecurity and hunger. The tools offered on the www.gettingSNAP.org site connect the most vulnerable people in this state to a valuable food resource, and are also a major resource for the agencies that assist them.

The new website and SNAP trainer were funded in part through the United States Department of Agriculture/Food and Nutritional Services (USDA/FNS), in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance.

About Project Bread

As the state’s leading antihunger organization, Project Bread is dedicated to alleviating, preventing, and ultimately ending hunger in Massachusetts. Through The Walk for Hunger, the oldest continual pledge walk in the country, Project Bread provides millions of dollars each year in privately donated funds to over 453 emergency food programs in 129 communities statewide. Project Bread also advocates systemic solutions that provide food for families in natural, everyday settings, such as schools, after-school programs, summer programs, community health centers, hospitals, and home care organizations. For more information, visit www.projectbread.org.

About the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) 

DTA’s mission is to assist low-income individuals and families to meet their basic needs, increase their incomes, and improve their quality of life. Located within the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, the Department ensures that the emergency and transitional needs of the individuals and families of the Commonwealth are met through a combination of state- and federally-funded programs.

About United States Department of Agriculture/Food and Nutrition Service (USDA/FNS)

USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service oversees 15 nutrition assistance programs that touch the lives of one in four Americans over the course of a year. The programs work together to form a national safety net against hunger. The National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs provide nutritionally balanced, free, and low-cost meals to nearly 32 million school children each school day. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) puts healthy food in reach for more than 45 million Americans each month, half of whom are children.