Illinois families with schoolchildren may receive P-EBT cards. | Adobe Stock
Illinois families with schoolchildren may receive P-EBT cards. | Adobe Stock
At least 1 million Illinois families with public school K-12 students have begun receiving Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer (P-EBT) debit cards preloaded with $450 to help close the gap for the food-insecure as of March 8.
With the state recently receiving funding from the federal government as in-person learning resumes, families will receive stipends of $450 designed to help households facing food insecurity brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Students are set to receive the funds — loaded onto a reusable Illinois EBT/Link card, through their school district.
"There are a lot of families struggling right now with kids not having access to meals at school [and] unfortunately there are a lot of kids are going hungry," Greater Chicago Food Depository's Public Benefits Outreach senior manager Claudia Rodriguez told ABC 7 Chicago.
Students who qualify for free meals also receive the Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer. All Chicago Public Schools students are thought to be eligible for the program, ABC 7 Chicago reported.
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