How to claim the benefit.
Tennessee students who qualify for free and reduced lunch programs at their local school are eligible to receive additional federal benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The state is distributing three rounds of funding to give families money for meals they would have received at school if the pandemic hadn’t closed classrooms during the last year.
The requirements to qualify for Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfers, or P-EBT, funds vary from round to round. If you think your family might qualify for the funds, contact the Tennessee Department of Human Services hotline at 833-496-0661.
As many as 60,000 children might be owed benefits for which they qualify. Families have until Sept. 29 to collect money from the first round of funding, which pays for missed school lunches from last spring.
The second round of funds on P-EBT cards was mailed in October. The state began mailing out the third round of funds in late March.
If you have questions about P-EBT funding, you can email the Tennessee Justice Center at nutrition@tnjustice.org. You can sign up on the nonprofit center’s website to get P-EBT email updates for the latest information.
If you want to appeal a P-EBT benefits decision, you can create a Servicenow account on the Department of Human Services website and select the “Pandemic EBT Appeal” button in the “Apply for Assistance” menu.
Reach Adam Tamburin at 615-726-5986 and atamburin@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter @tamburintweets.