Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer program benefits will end after this summer

Starting on July 22, the Virginia Department of Social Services will issue Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer (P-EBT) program benefits of $120 to households with eligible children in grades K-12.

P-EBT is a federal program created in spring 2020 to supplement school meals that students missed while schools were closed or placed on part-time attendance schedules due to COVID-19.

School-age children are eligible for P-EBT if they attended a school that participated in a Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) or the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) during school year 2022-2023. Children are also eligible if they were approved for free or reduced-price meals during the 2022-2023 school year or are determined newly eligible for free or reduced-price meals.

This is the last summer that the government will issue P-EBT benefits due to the ending of the federal public health emergency on May 11, 2023.

The state cannot issue P-EBT benefits to children who did not attend an NSLP-participating school by the end of the 2022-2023 school year. p

Households that do not have an existing P-EBT or SNAP EBT card will have a card mailed to the address provided by their school within 3 weeks of benefit issuance. Households that have lost or discarded their previously issued P-EBT or EBT cards, or are in need of updating their address, should contact the P-EBT Call Center at 866-513-1414 or 804-294-1633 Monday - Friday from 7 a.m. - 7 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Households in need of additional food resources may be eligible for assistance through the following community-based resources:

Joyce Chu, an award-winning investigative journalist, is the Social Justice Watchdog Reporter for The Progress Index. Contact her with comments, concerns, or story-tips at [email protected] or on Twitter @joyce_speaks.