PRESS RELEASE

Department of Social Services Prepares for Disaster Food Stamps
BATON ROUGE (September 12, 2008) –The Castine Center in St. Tammany Parish will temporarily close its Disaster Food Stamp application site on Saturday. The Center is open today and the application process is moving quickly. The center will reopen at 8 a.m. on Sunday.

Today, 12 application centers are open with a total of 658 staff serving applicants. 29 sites have temporarily shut down due to safety concerns with the impact of Hurricane Ike. A total of 131,270 applications have been processed during the first three days. Department of Social Services staff will also process applications in shelters that are reopening for people evacuating in advance of the hurricane.

Below is a list of sites that plan to be open tomorrow:

• East Feliciana Parish Early Childhood Learning Center, East Feliciana, 9414 Plank Road, Clinton
• East Baton Rouge OFS, EBR, 1919 North Boulevard, Baton Rouge,
• Capitol High School, EBR, 1000 North 23rd Street, Baton Rouge
• St. Gabriel Community Center, Iberville, 1745 Highway 30, St. Gabriel
• West Baton Rouge OFS, WBR, 1622 Court Street, Port Allen
• New Orleans Convention Center, 900 Convention Boulevard, New Orleans
• Bossier OFS, Bossier, 2123, Shed Road, Bossier City
• Caddo OFS, Caddo, 1525 Fairfield Avenue, Shreveport
• Ouachita OFS, Ouachita, 1306 North 19th Street, Monroe
• Avoyelles OFS, Avoyelles, 607 Tunica Drive, Marksville
• Alexandria Mall – Stein Mart, Rapides, 3437 Masonic Drive, Alexandria

The USDA Food and Nutrition Services did issue a 7-day extension of the program and DSS will work to ensure that if necessary, sites forced to close because of Ike can make up the days lost to the storm.

For the latest information on Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, you can visit emergency.louisiana.gov or call the state's emergency hotline at 1-866-288-2484 to listen to a recorded message with the most up-to-date information.

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