RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — The Virginia Department of Social Services (VDSS) has begun issuing its summer Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) benefits on Thursday.
The P-EBT program is a federal program that was created at the start of the pandemic to provide students with school meals that they missed while schools are closed or placed on part-time attendance schedules due to COVID-19, according to the VDSS.
The date for the beginning of P-EBT benefits was moved up to Thursday, July 20, because the Social Services database system will be under maintenance on Friday, July 21, and Saturday, July 22.
According to the VDSS, benefits will be loaded onto existing P-EBT or SNAP EB-T cards.
Anyone receiving benefits for the first time should expect a card to be mailed to the address that the student’s school has on file.
