HUNTINGTON — Another round of West Virginia’s Summer Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) benefits for student and non-student populations will be distributed next month, state officials announced this week.
In 2020, the American Rescue Plan helped provide free meals to students in the public school system in 43 of West Virginia’s 55 counties. This year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service will provide $391 for approximately 255,280 West Virginia children to access healthy food throughout the summer.
The benefit will go to all students who were enrolled in Cabell County Schools as of May 31, 2022, for the 2021-22 school year, said Amanda Harrison, the director of the Office of Child Nutrition at the West Virginia Department of Education.
For children who are not yet enrolled in school to be eligible, they must be younger than 6 and reside in a house that receives SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits. Any individual student or child under 6 who becomes eligible for free or reduced meals during the covered summer period will be deemed eligible for summer P-EBT, according to information from state officials.
Harrison said that in theory, money would be granted to all students in Cabell County, but some students who fall under the above categories may not have access to this round of benefits.
“We would love for it to reach all children. But unfortunately, because there’s federal rules and Congress set the laws for all of this, it won’t reach all children in West Virginia,” she said. “It will reach, we estimate, about 255,000 children in West Virginia, which is great, but we know that there are definitely more children in the state.”
Last year, eligible students received the money in July, but this year, they are not expecting it until August.
“We would have liked to get those out sooner to families … it’s the process by which we received approval. And so we’re fortunate we’re able to get this money to draw down to West Virginia families. And we do admit we wish it could have been issued sooner,” Harrison said.
Families should keep an eye out for a letter in the mail from the Department of Health and Human Resources that will explain some details, which are also listed on the website. For families who are new to the county or who just received their first card, a letter will come explaining the next steps for them.
“I think it would be good for folks to know to be watching their mailboxes” for the new card and other important details, Harrison said.
Questions regarding a student’s eligibility can be directed to the P-EBT hotline at 866-545-6502, which is available from 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Monday through Friday. Visit https://wvde.us/wv-pebt/ for more information.
