The Department of Public Health and Social Services (DPHSS) will be distributing Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer (P-EBT) cards from March 28 to April 9 on the 2nd floor of the Micronesia Mall.
They will not be distributing cards on Sunday, April 3rd.
This is just the distribution of cards, however, and not the loading, or reloading, of the benefit.
“The loading of the benefit, which is a one-time issuance of $438–that’s going to happen on April 8th,” said Janela Carrera, Public Information Officer for DPHSS. “It’ll be loaded after 7 pm.”
The distribution will run from 1 pm to 7 pm on weekdays and from 11 am to 7 pm on Saturday.
According to Carrera, there is no application period as the DPHSS and GDOE already have the names of the parents who qualify. Those are students who were enrolled in School Year (SY) 2020-2021 in any GDOE or DoDEA school and received free or reduced school meals. Also eligible to receive P-EBT cards are students 6 years and younger who qualified for SNAP benefits.
Furthermore, DPHSS has planned for a smaller turnout for P-EBT 2.0, as Carrera called it in a recent K57 interview, as they anticipate that many families have retained their first card.
“Once you pick up your card, hold on to it.” Carrera reiterates, “The benefit will be loaded on April 8th.”
As the program has been expanded to include an additional 7,000 children, Carrera estimates it will cost about 14 million dollars, but that figure may vary depending on the turnout.
Below is JIC Release No. 998, which contains the eligibility criteria for the summer P-EBT cards. The information begins on Page 2:
JIC RELEASE NO. 998 - COVID-19 Test Results_ 84 New Cases, 16 Hospitalized_ Summer P-EBT SNAP Benefits for School-Aged Children and Children Below 6
