May 6, 2020 3:15 a.m.
The Department of Human Services and the Oregon Department of Education has announced that Oregon families with children that are eligible to receive free or reduced- price meals will get cash benefits for the meals they would have received at school.
A release from the Oregon Office of Emergency Management said the benefits will be provided even if the families have been accessing meals from schools during the closure of schools.
The release said the USDA Food and Nutrition Service has authorized DHS to provide Oregon P-EBT Pandemic School Meal Replacement Benefits to more than 351,000 students receiving the free or reduced-price meals. That includes almost 147,000 students already receiving Nutrition Assistance. Households will receive benefits equivalent to one free lunch and one free breakfast for each eligible child. That is $5.70 per normal school day for the months of March, April, May and June.
Eligible Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program households will have their March, April and May benefits automatically deposited to their existing Electronic Benefit Transfer accounts in late May. Students who do get free or reduced-price meals but do not receive SNAP benefits will automatically receive an Oregon Trail Card in the mail.
Families who have experienced significant income loss may have become eligible for free or reduced-price school meals still have time to apply. Go to: https://www.ode.state.or.us/apps/FRLApp/Default or contact a local school.
Benefits will be retroactive to March 16th for students who received free or reduced- price meals when schools closed. Eligible families will receive these amounts for each child:
*$69 for March
*$126 in April
*$120 in May
*$69 in June
DHS will continue to work with federal partners to provide greater assistance to Oregonians in need. To apply for Nutrition Assistance, visit: https://govstatus.egov.com/or-dhs-food or call 211.