Dear Friends,

The countdown is on! Less than 1 month remains until the Race Against Hunger, and only 1 week remains for you to register and be guaranteed to receive the official Race t-shirt before the Race begins. This year we will be racing in Royal Blue.

Food insecurity is on the rise due to the pandemic, supply chain issues, and the rising cost of food due to inflation. We need your support! Register to walk, run, or bike, or consider making a donation. Proceeds support our work at the Coalition to build a community where all people have the food they need to lead healthy lives.

When: April 22 - May 1, 2022

Where: Virtual - Walk, run or bike wherever is most convenient for you, or complete our Kelly Drive 5K course. 

Why: To end hunger!

You may have already read the very sad news in an email we sent last week that Derek Felton, the Coalition’s Community Resource Coordinator, passed away on Saturday, March 12th. We also wanted to share it here, in case you missed that email. For all of you who knew or crossed paths with Derek, you will know how important he has been to the work of the Coalition and to Philadelphia’s anti-hunger efforts. We miss him terribly, and we are discussing ways that we can properly honor him.

Many of you have contacted us to inquire about a memorial service. We are working with his family to coordinate a service in May. If you would like to be informed of plans and have not already reached out, please contact Tanya Sen at [email protected].

Policy and Advocacy

SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program): An important change is coming to SNAP. For many months, Pennsylvania has had a waiver allowing SNAP recipients to keep their benefits, even if they had not returned their 6-month paperwork (called semi-annual reports or SARs). This waiver will end on March 31, and starting on April 1, all SNAP participants will need to complete their SAR and return it to the County Assistance Office (CAO) on time in order to keep receiving SNAP benefits. If you need help completing a SAR, our SNAP Hotline can help!

Throughout the pandemic, many flexibilities were allowed in SNAP, such as the SAR waiver. These flexibilities were created to try to meet the increased need and address the increased hardship brought on by the pandemic. As we start to see these flexibilities end, it’s important to remember that many families are still reeling from the effects of the pandemic. Propel (the creator of "Providers," a free mobile app that helps over 5 million low-income families manage their SNAP benefits) has been surveying its users throughout the pandemic. Propel's February 2022 survey results reveal that families are still experiencing hardship due to the pandemic and its economic fallout. The survey found that:

• The number of users living in unstable housing situations is 26% higher than it was at this time last year.
• Families are struggling to adjust to the loss of the Child Tax Credit.
• While a higher than average percentage of users reported working full-time or part-time in February, 22% of users reported missing work because of illness.

These survey results indicate that although people are anxious to return to “normal” after two full years of the pandemic, families still need support. This is one reason why our advocacy efforts are so important. If you would like to be a part of our advocacy efforts, signing up for advocacy alerts is the easiest way to get involved. Advocacy alerts are the first place that we send important advocacy notifications. We let you know what is going on and always give you an action step to make your voice heard. To join our movement, sign up for advocacy alerts today.

Tax Filing: And finally, a continued reminder to file your taxes by April 18 to claim all of the credits you are eligible for. In our last email, we shared a helpful video explaining the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the temporary expansions that have made additional people eligible. Check out our social media next week for information on the Child Tax Credit (CTC). If you are ready to file today, check out www.claimyourmoneyphl.com (Philadelphia) or www.getyourrefund.org. 

Food Pantry & Soup Kitchens

If your food pantry or soup kitchen is seeing increased need and does not have enough resources to meet the need, consider signing-up to use this year’s Race Against Hunger as a fundraiser for your program. The deadline to complete the Race Against Hunger Agreement is Thursday, March 31st. Once you complete and turn-in the Agreement, we will create a special online fundraising page for your team and send you additional fundraising tools. If you are interested in finding out more, please contact Tanya Sen at [email protected].

SNAP Hotline In Action

In January, a single father called our SNAP Hotline for assistance. He hadn’t been receiving his SNAP benefits since September of 2021. He had been trying to get the issue resolved through the County Assistance Office, but he was having trouble reaching them. Based on the information he provided us, he was eligible for expedited benefits, but unfortunately, they were denied. Our SNAP Hotline Manager reached out to our liaison at the Unity District. After reviewing the case, the liaison confirmed that he was entitled to retroactive benefits, dating back to September 2021. Even though he was told that he would get these benefits, he still did not receive any. When he called us back to let us know, our SNAP Hotline Manager reached out to the Unity District liaison for help once again. There had been a systematic error that wasn't allowing the retroactive benefits to go through. This issue was fixed, and our client finally received his retroactive SNAP benefits, covering September 2021 - March 2022, as well as ongoing benefits for him and his daughter.

Our Coalition Against Hunger SNAP Hotline team is here to help! Whether it’s navigating the SNAP application process or providing case management, our SNAP Hotline team is available to help Monday – Thursday from 9:00am to 5:00 pm and on Friday from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. Give our SNAP Hotline team a call at 215-430-0556.