One million Illinois schoolchildren will receive debit cards charged for monthly food attendance through Pandemic’s expanded EBT program

CHICAGO (WLS) – In the coming weeks, the families of one million K-12 public school students in Illinois will receive a very important card in the mail.

It will be loaded with money to help with food insecurity caused by the pandemic.

As face-to-face learning resumes for more CPS students, things are still far from back to normal for many of their families.

“There are a lot of families struggling right now with kids who don’t have access to school meals, unfortunately, there are a lot of kids who go hungry,” said Claudia Rodriguez, Greater Chicago Food Depot, senior manager of disclosure of public benefits

The state of Illinois received federal money to provide more relief to more children: one million children.

Students will receive funding through their school districts.

Children who meet for free meals meet the requirements for the Pandemic Benefit Electronic Transfer, or P-EBT, so students from any school across the state could qualify.

In some cases, the entire district qualifies, so in more than 200 school districts all students qualify for P-EBT.

All Chicago public school students are eligible for P-EBT, according to officials, so all students will receive $ 450 for the time the schools learned distance in the fall. The money will be charged to a reusable card.

“They can grab that card and they can buy food at grocery and retail stores across the state, so please don’t throw away those cards,” said Grace Hou, secretary of the Illinois Department of Human Services.

State officials urge families to make sure their child’s school has the most current address and to keep an eye on the white envelope in the mail with the card.

“If they came to school before a pandemic waiting or needing breakfast and lunch when it disappeared, there would be a significant increase in the need to replace those meals,” Hou said.

“We think of adults who go hungry and may be homeless or less employed, but there are many families with children who are struggling,” Rodriguez said.

The letters will start coming out next week.

Qualified students who have been removed this year will be entitled to more funds that will be automatically charged to their cards.