By Lynne Terry/Oregon Capital Chronicle
Thousands of low-income Oregon families are leaving food money on the table this summer.
The Department of Human Services said Monday that families with 320,000 children have received extra food assistance for the summer but families with another 30,000 children who qualify need to apply.
The Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer Program for Children, or Summer EBT, pays a one-time payment of $120 per child to help low-income families cover food costs over the three-month summer period when children are not in school and don’t have access to those free meals. The payment adds to other assistance, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP. The summer program totals about $35 million in aid a year and is funded entirely by the federal government.
A pilot run of the program in Oregon showed it reduced child hunger by one-third, said Iván Hernández, a spokesman for the Oregon Food Bank.
“Part of why this is so effective is because it provides households with extra funds to purchase foods of their choice from retailers like grocery stores or farmers’ markets, which means kids won’t have to travel to summer meal sites that might not meet their dietary needs/preferences or be culturally appropriate,” Hernández said.
This spring, the Oregon Food Bank estimated that one in five children in the state face hunger, but Feeding America says it’s one in six.
In January, Oregon officials applied for the program, and this spring the Legislature agreed to the federal requirement to pay for half of the administrative costs, about $13 million over two years.
Families who are already on SNAP, the Oregon Health Plan or Medicaid, or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, TANF, have received automatic $120 payments earlier this month. But these other children qualify as well.
- Children in foster care
- Children who attend a school in the National School Lunch Program or School Breakfast Program and:
- Have a monthly income of $3,152 for a family of two, $3,981 for a family of three, $4,810 for a family of four or $5,640 for a family of five.
- Are enrolled in migrant programs.
- Are homeless.
- Attend Head Start.
- Participate in food distribution programs on Native American reservations.
Department of Human Services officials are sending letters to families that qualify by the end of this month. Officials are adding the payments to SNAP cards or, for others, mailing debit cards with the money on them to families.
Officials do not ask for a child’s or family’s immigration status on the application or to determine eligibility, and enrollment in the program also does not affect a child’s immigration status, DHS said, nor does the so-called public charge rule apply. The rule can be used to deny visas or legal residency to families that lack economic resources.
Families can check to see whether they received the benefits by checking their EBT card.
Families can apply online in English and Spanish.
Call 833-673-7328 to find out if your child qualifies or for more information.
The deadline to apply is Sept. 2.
This story first appeared in the Oregon Capital Chronicle.
