Philadelphia, July 7, 2010 — Today, Mayor Michael A. Nutter and officials from the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare (DPW) received a $500,000, two year grant from the US Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service. These dollars will help fund BenePhilly, a joint initiative between the City and Commonwealth to enroll the thousands of low-income
Philadelphians eligible for, but not receiving, valuable federal and state benefits. BenePhilly hopes to use these dollars to help seniors apply for SNAP, the federal food assistance program, as well as PACE and Medicare prescription drug programs, and Pennsylvania’s property tax and rent rebates.
Since its inception, BenePhilly has assisted seniors in completing 13,500 benefit applications, worth more than $32 million in benefits.
“I am proud that the federal government has recognized the success of BenePhilly and awarded the City and DPW half a million dollars to continue its important work,” said Mayor Nutter. “These are hard times financially for many Philadelphians, but particularly seniors. The BenePhilly program helps put dollars into the hands of people that deserve them but aren’t receiving them.”
“Many senior citizens are struggling to buy nutritious foods on a tight budget, but they may not be aware assistance is available,” Secretary of Public Welfare Harriet Dichter said. “This project will help identify those seniors and reach out to them, so they can receive the fullest benefits for which they are eligible.”
BenePhilly assists seniors in applying for benefits through innovative and unprecedented outreach and application assistance efforts. BenePhilly sends letters to seniors who are un-enrolled but believed to be eligible. Letters are followed-up by a recorded phone call informing them of an 800 number to call for assistance from someone in Philadelphia. If the senior does not respond, in many cases they will receive a live follow-up call.
Benefits Data Trust (BDT) administers the BenePhilly program, as well as other similar programs nationwide. The Philly-based non-profit has completed more than 200,000 benefit applications on behalf of low income seniors across the nation. BDT was established in 2005 by local entrepreneur Warren G. Kantor who envisioned assisting all eligible seniors in applying for the benefit programs they deserve.
“Reaching the 200,000 mark is a major milestone for BDT, but there are still so many seniors who deserve our help,” said Warren G. Kantor, Founder of BDT. “Right here in Pennsylvania we have completed 145,000 benefits applications on behalf eligible seniors who are able to ease their financial burdens just a bit through enhanced or additional benefits. We extremely proud of this work, but we have identified more than one million seniors in Pennsylvania alone who could benefits from SNAP (formerly food stamps), federal and state prescription assistance programs and property tax rebates.
