LANSING — Approximately 350,000 Michigan families will continue to have access to additional food assistance benefits during the month of September as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) announced.

Michigan has provided additional food assistance since March – and now it is being extended for September with approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service.

“MDHHS is committed to providing easy access to expanded food assistance to residents who are struggling to feed their families due to the impacts of the pandemic,” said Lewis Roubal, the department’s chief deputy director of opportunity. “We will continue to do everything we can to help Michiganders through these difficult times as we fight COVID-19 together.”

Eligible clients will see additional food assistance benefits on their Bridge Card by Sept. 30, with payments beginning for some households Sunday, Sept. 20. Additional benefits will be loaded onto Bridge Cards as a separate payment from the assistance provided earlier in the month.

Nearly 1.5 million people in Michigan receive federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits through the state’s Food Assistance Program

Households eligible for Food Assistance Program benefits will receive additional benefits in September to bring all current SNAP cases to the maximum monthly allowance for that group size. This change only applies to customers not currently receiving the maximum benefit amount. The 350,000 households that receive increased benefits represent close to 50 percent of the more than 800,000 Michigan households that received food assistance in August. The remaining households already receive the maximum benefit.

The federal government is providing additional funding to states for food assistance under House Resolution 6201, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.

Eligible families do not need to re-apply to receive the additional benefits. People who receive food assistance can check their benefits balance on their Michigan Bridge Card by going online to www.michigan.gov/MIBridges or calling a consumer service representative toll-free at 888-678-8914. They can ask questions about the additional benefits by calling or emailing their caseworker.

Customer service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Spanish and Arabic service is available. If you are deaf, deafblind or hard of hearing or speech-impaired, call the Michigan Relay Center at 7-1-1.