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Indiana Begins Testing SNAP Grocery Delivery Program Next Week

Church volunteers distribute free food out from a U-Haul truck in a parking lot.
Church volunteers distribute free food out from a U-Haul truck in a parking lot.

Indiana will begin testing a new program next week that will allow some Hoosiers to use their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP benefits for grocery delivery.

The state announced the program last month and hoped to launch it in mid-May. It will be a permanent addition to SNAP benefits, often called food stamps, extending beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

Family and Social Services Administration Secretary Jennifer Sullivan says the state has partnered with two retailers for the start of the program.

“We have letters of intent from Amazon and from Walmart,” Sullivan says.

Sullivan says the state is working to add more retailers as the program grows.

She also notes many stores statewide now allow people to use SNAP benefits for curbside pickup of their groceries.

Contact Brandon at  bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.

For the latest news and resources about COVID-19, bookmark our Coronavirus In Indiana page  here.

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Brandon J. Smith has previously worked as a reporter and anchor for KBIA Radio in Columbia, MO. Prior to that, he worked for WSPY Radio in Plano, IL as a show host, reporter, producer and anchor. His first job in radio was in another state capitol, in Jefferson City, as a reporter for three radio stations around Missouri. Brandon graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a Bachelor of Journalism in 2010, with minors in political science and history. He was born and raised in Chicago.