Deadline extended for applying for food assistance during pandemic
Tennessee parents have additional time to apply for an important program designed to help them feed their families during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Applications will now be accepted online for the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer program until 5:30 p.m. (EDT) Friday, Aug. 14.
This extension provides the Tennessee Department of Human Services with more opportunity to continue outreach efforts with community organizations.
P-EBT provides parents with $5.70 in benefits per child for each day that child qualifies. These benefits can be used to purchase food at any establishment that accepts EBT or online with Amazon and Walmart.
To be eligible, children must receive free or reduced-price meals at school or attend a Community Eligibility Provision school. The program is designed to replace meals lost during the months of March, April, and May due to COVID-19 school closures.
“Hundreds of thousands of children currently have access to additional nutritional support through our P-EBT program and we want to make sure more families are aware of this opportunity,” said TDHS Commissioner Danielle W. Barnes.
TDHS launched P-EBT June 12 by providing the benefits to qualifying families that take part in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programs.
These families already have an existing EBT card, and P-EBT benefits were automatically applied to those cards. Families who do not currently receive SNAP or TANF need to apply for the program and will receive their P-EBT cards in the mail after approval.
Approval times can be delayed by inaccurate or incomplete information on the application so families are encouraged to double-check all names and addresses to make sure they match what their children’s schools have on file. Families may download applications in Spanish, Somali, and Arabic to fill out and email to P-EBT.DHS@tn.gov.