News & Updates
Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (Summer EBT) Information
Dear Champions of Education,
A healthier future for our state begins with our children. Unfortunately, many children face hunger during the summer when they lose access to school meals. Children need good nutrition to grow, learn, and thrive. There are new tools to address summer hunger, including Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (Summer EBT), and a new flexible way to offer meals to children living in hard-to-reach, rural communities.
The Notice of Decision letters will be mailed by Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) on or around May 17. The letter will notify a family that they have been found eligible for this benefit by participating in other DHHS programs (SNAP, TANF, FDPIR, or MaineCare, after being found eligible with a validated income rate at or below the185 percent of the federal poverty level) or by qualifying with a Free and Reduced Meal Benefit Application or by completing the EPS Form (Alternate Income Data Form). It will tell them how they will get the benefit, and how they can use the benefit.
Below are documents to help you and other school staff answer questions about the program. All supporting documentation can be located on the Maine DOE Child Nutrition SUN Bucks homepage. This information will also be shared through the Child Nutrition weekly Thursday update.
The letter to households is intended to be posted on the school’s websites. We recommend that all schools post this letter on their websites.
The letter to school staff is to share basic information about the program. We believe that the more information they have, the more that they can help.
The job aid contains information to assist families with knowledge about the program. We recommend that this gets printed and hung in every office, in every school, with the contact information for DHHS highlighted.
To date, two webinars have been conducted. A recording of the webinar can be located on the SUN Bucks page of the website.