The last two years have been difficult and while we may have turned a corner with the pandemic, many people are still struggling. In March 2020 the federal government established the Pandemic EBT (P-EBT) program to serve as a lifeline to families who lost access to free or reduced-price school meals due to school closures or other COVID-related reasons.
P-EBT works in the following ways:
- Families receive grocery money on a new or existing EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer) card to help fill the school meals and childcare meals gap.
- P-EBT can be spent at more than 750 grocery retailers across Montana, including many farmers markets.
- P-EBT also provides for summer benefits allowing children access to food when school is not in session.
We need your help! While the federal government has decided to continue the program, states must submit their plan to the USDA for how it will administer P-EBT for the 2022/2023 school year. Unfortunately, Governor Gianforte has indicated he is not interested in continuing the program in Montana.
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thumbnail_alt_text===A colorful picture of fruis and vegetables spread out over a white table
Please call Governor Gianforte TODAY at 406-444-3111 or click here to send a message to him asking him to keep submit a plan to the USDA and keep program going.
By not submitting a plan, Montana kids will miss out on P-EBT benefits for Summer 2022. No child should worry about access to food when school isn’t in session. An estimated 97,500 kids are eligible for P-EBT and thousands of families will be negatively impacted if a plan is not submitted by the state of Montana.
Once you have made your call or sent your message, please email me at [email protected], we’d love to keep track of how many messages the Governor received.
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