Food stamps: Final direct payment worth average of $180 for Florida residents to go out in five days
All recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in Florida will receive their food stamps, a form of food assistance, within the next five days.
The food stamps program in the Sunshine State distributes monthly benefits to its recipients from the first through 28 of every month, which means that every beneficiary will receive their monthly payment by July 28.
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SNAP benefits are loaded onto an EBT, or electronic benefit transfer, card so recipients can use their monthly payments for eligible items.
In Florida, the average benefit payment per household member for the food stamp program is $180, and approximately 2.85 million people, or roughly 13% of the state's population, receive assistance paying for food. Further information on eligibility requirements to receive SNAP in Florida can be found on the state's website.
Distribution of food stamp benefits in the Sunshine State follows a formula based on certain digits in a person's case number. The formula Florida follows involves taking the ninth digit followed by the eighth digit of a person's case number to create a two-digit number, which identifies when someone receives their benefits. If a recipient's ninth digit is 9 and their eighth digit is 8, then the number for this formula would be 98.
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For case numbers in which this number is 00-03, those people will receive their benefits on the 1st of a month. Those who receive their benefits from the 2nd through the 27 of the month are in groups of three, beginning with 04-06 for the 2nd of the month and ending with 93-95 for the 27. Those whose ninth and eighth digits are 96-99 receive their benefits on the 28.
Florida officials say that SNAP payments may be used to "buy breads, cereals, fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, poultry, dairy, and plants and seeds to grow food for your household to eat," according to the state. Food stamps cannot be used to purchase "pet foods, soaps, paper products, household supplies, grooming items, alcoholic beverages, tobacco, vitamins, medicines, food to eat in the store, or hot foods."