One way to help - "mercifully" no friends or family were affected by the Joplin tornado

A line snakes down the street as people line up outside
Birmingham's Boutwell Auditorium seeking supplemental
food assistance offered people who suffered losses in
the April 27, 2011, tornadoes in Alabama.
(The Birmingham News/Michelle Campbell)
Today I had several people ask what they could do to help people affected by the Joplin tornado devastation. One person responded that "mercifully" no one he knew lived in Joplin, but he was concerned about providing disaster relief.

Food Relief and Action Center documented two recent cases -- in Alabama and North Dakota -- where victims of storms were provided food assistance through the SNAP/Food Stamps program.

The Alabama case show one example of the quickest way to provide relief is through the government program; a keen way to shared responsibility to disaster relief. 500 county health workers were needed to process SNAP benefit applications, which shows how great the need for basic food assistance is in that area.
About 55,000 Jefferson County, Ala. residents who suffered losses from recent tornadoes received Disaster SNAP/Food Stamps as of May 15. Amanda Rice, director of the county Department of Human Resources, said that 800 people an hour were still coming through her doors, and that the number of participants is likely to increase to more than 60,000 by the final day of the program. Residents taking advantage of the program said they would replace groceries lost during the multiple days they were without power.

Another case in North Dakota documented the response to outreach for Food Stamps/SNAP benefits.
SNAP/Food Stamp recipients in North Dakota’s western counties have until May 27 to report food losses to a county social service office in order to receive SNAP/Food Stamp replacements. The western counties experienced power outages after the April 30 blizzard, and these Disaster SNAP/Food Stamp benefits replace food damaged or destroyed by the outages.
KSPR ABC-33 out of Springfield, Missouri reports that the Missouri Department of Social Services, like in Alabama, is setting up to replace food stamp benefits that people lost in the Joplin tornado. The television station echoed MDSS' notice for where to get assistance.

"The Joplin Children’s Division and Family Support Division office at 601 Commercial is open with staff on hand. Social services staff is also at the Forrest Park Baptist Church shelter and the Greater Ozarks Chapter of the Red Cross shelter at Missouri Southern State College’s Leggett and Platt Athletic Center.

"Families can also visit or call social services offices in nearby counties. The nearest offices to Joplin include:

Neosho County Family Support Division Customer Service Center
201 N. Washington, Neosho, Mo. 64850
(417) 455-5152

Lawrence County Family Support Division Office
1419 East Church St.
Aurora, Mo. 65605
(417) 678-4138

Barton County Family Support Division Office
501 West 13th St.
Lamar, Mo. 64759
(417) 682-3531

"Food stamps are a federally funded assistance program that can only be used to buy food, or plants and seeds that grow food, at stores authorized by the USDA Food and Nutrition Service.  Food stamps cannot be used to purchase alcoholic beverages, tobacco, hot foods or foods prepared for immediate consumption - such as fast-food or concessions."
These three cases show that everyone -- both in Missouri and throughout the US -- are helping people that need it the most by providing people with Food Stamps/SNAP benefits.

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