黑料新闻鈥檚 Department of Social Services (DSS) distributed more than $8.8 million in special food assistance benefits to children on Sunday, Aug. 13.
This one-time benefit is expected to reach more than 57,300 children or roughly 42,600 households. Each eligible child received up to $172.72 as part of the social services鈥� .
Giovanni Pinto, Communications Manager of DSS, said these funds are being distributed now so that parents can put their personal finances toward providing 鈥渂ack-to-school and other essential needs鈥� for their children.
鈥淎s summer winds down, we anticipate that families are going to start incurring additional costs, so we wanted to provide an avenue of relief for qualifying recipients,鈥� Pinto said.
Eligible children include those who were under the age of 6 by Sept. 1, 2022 andreceived Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits from social services between last September and May 11.
This benefit is also applicable to children who received free or reduced-price meals through federally assisted meal programs in school during the 2022-2023 school year.
If a child only received benefits for a portion of that period the amount will be prorated.
An application to access these funds is not required 鈥擠SS will automatically distribute the money to existing EBT cards. However, if a child had not previously received P-EBT benefits but was receiving Medicaid from DSS a P-EBT card will be issued in the student鈥檚 name to the address on file with their school, according to a statement from social services.
The benefits can be used at any location that accepts SNAP/EBT cards including farmers鈥� markets and direct market farms. They can also be used for online access for delivery or curbside pickup from Amazon, Target, Walmart, Whole Foods, and other participating stores.
The benefits will be expunged if not used within 274 days.
More information can be found on .
This story has been updated with additional comments from DSS.
