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Sept. 26, 2024 |  By: Clara Bates - Missouri Independent

Missouri pledges to disperse summer food aid by end of year

school lunch

By Clara Bates - Missouri Independent

Missouri has begun distributing summer food benefits for children and aims to finish by the end of the year, a spokesperson for the Department of Social Services told The Independent this week.

The aid was intended to be distributed during summer break, to help vulnerable kids avoid a drop-off in nutrition while they were out of school.

Missouri didn’t begin issuing the benefits until Sept. 19.

That’s faster than the state issued summer 2022 emergency benefits that were tied to the COVID-19 pandemic — those were not distributed until the following summer. And in 2023, Missouri did not accept federal pandemic summer food aid for children.

This year’s benefits are part of a federal program in its first year called Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer, or SUN Bucks, which is administered by states.

Each eligible child receives a one-time benefit of $120, loaded onto a card that can be used like a debit card to buy groceries.

Thirteen Republican-led states, but not Missouri, opted out of participating in the program.

Benefits for the program have so far been issued to 9,500 Missouri kids, out of the 490,000 kids estimated to receive benefits that amount to $58.8 million.

“[The Family Support Division] remains committed to disbursing benefits as swiftly and accurately as possible,” DSS spokesperson Chelsea Blair said, “with the goal of completing all disbursements by the end of the year.”

State officials said they dealt with technical issues that delayed federal approval and hindered earlier launch of the program. 

One issue is that “much of the data collection process for children enrolled in the National School Lunch Program is still manual at this time,” another DSS spokesperson, Baylee Watts, said — the department needs schools to submit data before they can determine eligibility for many of the kids.

The children who will be automatically eligible for the program are:

Missouri has so far issued benefits to foster kids, Watts said, and is next turning to kids whose families are already on SNAP or temporary assistance.

It won’t be until after Oct. 10 that the benefits for kids on free or reduced-price lunch will begin to be issued, she said, because that’s the deadline for schools to submit eligibility data to the department.

Benefits will be issued on an existing card if the family is enrolled in SNAP benefits or temporary assistance, or on a new mailed card if they are not. Families who need a new EBT card can request one by phone or the ebtEDGE mobile app.

SUN Bucks benefits will expire 122 days after they are issued, regardless of usage, so families must act quickly once the benefits are distributed. They should also keep the cards for next summer’s program, the state’s website advises.

Those who aren’t automatically eligible were required to submit an application. The window for applications closed Aug. 31, and any received thereafter will be considered for next summer’s program, the department said. The agency received 17,000 applications.

Next summer, Watts said, the agency is expecting benefits to be distributed during the summer months, because the proper infrastructure will be in place.