No deadline to apply for SNAP benefits following shutdown

New developments on food stamp benefits available for El Paso County families were announced Monday following the temporary break of the government shutdown.

You may remember the initial January deadline was on Jan. 15 — more than 1,200 families missed that date, including Rosanne Trujillo.

“It frightened me because a lot of us don’t have jobs, we have kids, and kids to feed,” Trujillo said.

Hundreds of families shared that feeling of fear:

“It’s very scary” “It was terrifying” “This is all I have, I don’t know what to do” “I feel in a way we’re being held hostage; it’s very difficult”

But the Dept. of Human Services says it is still processing new applications for SNAP benefits and re-determinations.

“We’re hopeful that because we’re funded for an additional three weeks that it gets us a little more leeway to work with the families that may have not made our deadline,” said Karen Logan, the director at the El Paso County Department of Human Services.

Logan said there is no deadline to submit applications, but that could change in coming weeks.

“We pretty much have to take it by a day-by-day basis,” Logan said, “because the program is funded monthly so technicians won’t know until three weeks when the government funding runs out.”

For more information on how to apply for SNAP, click here.