Now is the time to act to make sure you don't lose your food stamps on October 1st.

Federal law limits Food Stamp benefits to people between the ages of 18 and 50 with no minor children at home to three months in a 36-month period. For the last three years, no one in Maine has been affected by this time limit. This is because federal law allows us to "exempt" a certain number of people and we had enough exemptions to cover everyone who would have been affected by the time limit.

Unfortunately, we have now run out of exemptions. Beginning on July 1, 2006 the three month time limit will apply in Maine. This means that some people will begin to lose food stamps on October 1st. But, it does not mean that everyone in this group will lose their food stamps. There are still some very important exceptions to the 3-month time limit on food stamp benefits.

If you are between the ages of 18 and 50 without dependents, you can receive food stamps for more than 3-months in a 36-month period if:

• You are working at a job at least an average of 20 hours a week;
• You are earning at least 30 times the federal minimum wage ($154.50 a week);
• You are a migrant or seasonal farm worker with a contract to begin work in the next 30 days;
• You are, or will be, in a training program an average of at least 20 hours a week;
• You are doing volunteer community service for at least 24 hours a month;
• You must take care of a child under 18 even if you are not the parent or step-parent of the child and even if that child is not on food stamps;
• You must take care of an adult who needs help taking care of his or herself;
• You are not able to work 30-hours a week because of a physical or mental health problem (even if you have not been found officially “disabled”);
• You are pregnant;
• You are getting unemployment benefits;
• You are going to school at least half-time and otherwise qualify for food stamps; OR
• You are in a drug or alcohol treatment program.

If you meet ANY ONE of the requirements listed above, your food stamps will not be limited to 3-months in a 36-month period. However, you must notify DHHS which of the above requirements you meet.

In addition, the 3-month time limit does not apply in certain geographic areas of the State with high unemployment.

Right now those areas include all of Franklin, Oxford, Piscataquis, Somerset and Washington Counties. Certain towns in other counties are also exempt. A complete list of these geographic areas can be found on the maine.gov website.

You may get a notice, or you may have already received a notice, from the state telling you about these food stamp changes. The notice will say that your food stamps may end on September 30th. It will also specify groups of people who are safe from this new limit (see list above). It will ask you if you are in one of those groups. If you think you should not lose your food stamps, return the form to DHHS

or

call your food stamp worker right away. If you don't do this, you will lose your food stamps. Feel free to call us if you have questions about this change in Food Stamps. Crystal

8-24-06