MONTGOMERY-The Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR), Alabama Elderly Simplification Project (AESAP), has been awarded the Distinguished Service Award recognition by two national social service associations “For their innovative leadership and voice of change in the human services field.”
Alabama’s AESAP program, designed to more efficiently deliver food assistance to low-income elderly individuals, received the award from the American Association of SNAP Directors (AASD) and the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) at their annual conference in Seattle, Washington.
“We are very proud of the work our food assistance director, Brandon Hardin, and his staff have done in the AESAP program,”
DHR Commissioner Nancy Buckner
stated DHR Commissioner Nancy Buckner. “Many of our elderly citizens found the SNAP program too difficult to access through an application process that required them to come to one of our county offices to apply for benefits. This program has helped make nutritious food more easily accessible to them and has helped many vulnerable Alabamians put food on their table.”
Hunger is a very real problem for many of our most vulnerable citizens in Alabama. AESAP is designed to better serve a population facing barriers to participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) due to the application process and problems associated with age, such as transportation, mobility and disability.
AESAP began as a demonstration project in 2008 as a way to more efficiently deliver benefits from SNAP to elderly citizens who are 60 and older who have no earned income. Applicants may apply from their own home by completing a two page application and verifying income criteria.
In 2008, the program served approximately 21,000 households and currently serves over 56,000 low-income elderly people in Alabama.
Media Release/Alabama Department of Human Resources
