Press Release
More than 27,000 households have applied for Pandemic EBT out of an estimated 77,000 households that qualify for the program. The program provides a one-time benefit of $308 to children in kindergarten through 12th grade who were receiving free or reduced-price school meals on or before March 16, 2020.
This is a federal food assistance program authorized by Congress as part of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. Children whose households were receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits on or before March 16 have received their P-EBT benefit, about 60,000 students. If your family didn’t receive those benefits, you can visit Utahns Against Hunger’s Pandemic EBT page at www.pebtutah.org for information on how you can apply or contact DWS to receive those benefits.
“There are 50,000 eligible households that have yet to apply and less than a week to apply,” said Alex Cragun, Food Security Advocate for Utahns Against Hunger. “If your child attends a Community Eligible Provision school (a school where all students receive free meals) or if they were enrolled in Free/Reduced Meals on or before March 16, we urge you to apply. While modest, these benefits will be able to fill budget gaps for tens of thousands of families. The Department of Workforce Services just issued the first benefits for families who applied and distributed more than $6 million dollars. Not only does that help families buy food but has a real impact on the economy”
You can learn more about Pandemic EBT by going to the website PEBTUtah.org where we have translated materials for non-English speaking households. You can also find a digital toolkit to post information about it on social media.
This could bring an additional $50 million to Utah families for food assistance. Applications must be submitted by midnight, Aug. 31, and benefits will be provided in September 2020. The short application is available online at jobs.utah.gov/PEBT.