Announcements:

• WALTON FAMILIES READ THIS!! If you received an envelope in the mail this week from Walton please open it. Many P-EBT cards were sent to school! (Some were sent directly to families while some came to school). These cards are loaded with $ that can be used to purchased food. These were provided by a grant sponsored by the State of Maine to support summer meals for children. Example, one Walton family activated their card this week and there was $417 on it! If it was mailed from Walton School YOU QUALIFY. Please DO NOT overlook this free $$. I understand there will be more $$ added to the card in August as well.

• SEE BELOW:

• The Maine Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Family Independence, has been approved by the Food and Nutrition Service to issue Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) benefits to qualified children. Children from ages 0 – 5 will receive P-EBT benefits retroactively on a month-by-month basis from October 2020 through June 2021 if they were both in a SNAP eligible household and one school in their county was not utilizing a predominately in-person learning model. Children who were eligible for the USDA National School Lunch and School Breakfast Program will receive benefits retroactively from September 2020 through June 2021 on a month-by-month basis if their school was utilizing a predominately hybrid or fully remote learning model. The benefit for fully remote learning models is ~ $119 per child per month. The benefit for a hybrid learning model is ~ $59 per child per month. Issuance of P-EBT benefits began June 16th for the months of October through December with cards being mailed June 25. Benefits for January through March were issued July 15th. Some students who were eligible for the USDA National School Lunch and School Breakfast Program and P-EBT were not included in the July 15th issuance. These benefits will be issued as soon as possible. More information will be posted here as it becomes available. Current and recent SNAP recipients will receive P-EBT on their EBT card. P-EBT benefits for other children will be sent to each child on a P-EBT card.