NC Disburses $413M In Summer Pandemic Food Benefits For Children

NORTH CAROLINA — Families with children and who are experiencing food insecurity due to the pandemic will soon have a bit of relief, according to state officials.

North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has begun sending out one-time payments of $375 per eligible child to family Electronic Benefits Transfer cards to help offset food costs during the summer. The $413 million summer food assistance program is expected to help about 1.1 million children in the state, DHHS said.

"The P-EBT program provides food assistance benefits on an EBT card to North Carolina families whose children are eligible to receive free or reduced-price meals at school," DHHS said in a statement Wednesday.

Before the pandemic, an estimated 18 percent of children in North Carolina were considered food insecure, according to Feeding America, the nation's largest network of food banks and food pantries. The continuing economic fallout from the coronavirus has swollen that number to a projected 20 percent who are on the brink of hunger.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently approved a summer extension of P-EBT benefits in the state for families receiving benefits during the 2020-21 school year, which means families do not need to apply, the agency said.

“Children need access to enough healthy food every day to thrive and develop to their full potential, and that need doesn’t go away at the end of the school year,” DHHS Chief Deputy Secretary for Opportunity and Well-Being Susan Gale Perry said in a statement. “These benefits will help hundreds of thousands of North Carolina families buy groceries this summer.”

Here's what DHHS said about eligibility for the program:
"Summer P-EBT is available to North Carolina students who were eligible to receive free or reduced-price meals at school as of the last month of the school year and to children under age 6 who receive Food and Nutrition Services benefits. In addition, children who apply for free or reduced-price meals or FNS in the summer prior to Aug. 31, 2021 and are approved may be eligible to receive the full summer benefit. Those who become newly eligible will receive their benefit in late September or October."

More information about eligibility Food and Nutrition Services in North Carolina may be found here. More information about the P-EBT program may be found here.

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