NE families warned: Time nearly up on using food aid via once-controversial 2024 Summer EBT cards

LINCOLN — Nebraska officials said they’re sending out letters notifying qualifying families of the upcoming expiration date on grocery assistance available for kids through the once-controversial Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer program.

Federal rules call for the child-focused, food-buying benefits to be used within 122 days of issuance — or they return to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The first group of eligible low-income households in the state were issued Summer EBT cards May 28, giving them until Sept. 26 to use up any remaining funds, according to the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

DHHS said that on or before Sept. 19, a household may request a replacement Summer EBT card if the original card was lost, damaged or not received. That would allow a replacement card to arrive in time to use the benefits prior to them being expunged, said DHHS.

The federal government’s use-it-or-lose it rule was spotlighted earlier this year for a similar food assistance program, the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT). A June report in the Nebraska Examiner said that, at that time, Nebraska families had yet to claim roughly $6.6 million in grocery assistance issued on P-EBT cards — with just days before expiration. 

According to DHHS, as of August, about $6.8 million in P-EBT benefits to Nebraskans was expunged or reverted back to the federal government.

The P-EBT program offered recipients a longer span of time to use benefits compared to Summer EBT.

State officials said previously that they expected the Summer EBT program to serve about 175,000 Nebraska students, or 80,000 households that meet certain criteria, including an income that makes them eligible for free or reduced-price lunch during the school year.

Each qualified child was to receive a card loaded with a total of $120 in grocery-buying benefits. The program is designed to allow access to nutritious food during summer months when school is out.

The program drew extensive attention early on because Gov. Jim Pillen balked originally at opting into it, describing Summer EBT as a leftover from the pandemic that had ended. 

He later added that he didn’t believe in “welfare,” which prompted more criticism, in part because the governor, a hog producer and co-owner of a pork processing plant, had accepted federal assistance.

Pillen later reversed his stand on the benefits.

Questions about Summer EBT can be addressed by email, [email protected] or by calling 800.383.4287, option 5. If sending an email, the request must include names of the parent or guardian and the youth; address with city, state and ZIP code and EBT account number (included in the letter).