Families receiving Food Assistance Program benefits as well as those not currently enrolled in that program are included in the 895,000 students that will be receiving meals at over 2,000 locations and 700 mobile sites across Michigan, according to a press release.

Additional food assistance will be provided by The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, or MDHHS.

“Children should never go hungry. Yet because of COVID-19, it is a risk unlike at any time in generations,” MDHHS Director Robert Gordon said in the press release. “I am glad that Michigan will be the first state to deliver SNAP benefits to families that previously received free or reduced-price lunches, whether or not they were SNAP-eligible. In a time of terrible need, it will be a small, good thing for nearly a million Michigan children.”

To receive food assistance benefits, Electronic Benefits Transaction, or EBT, cards will be given to families not currently receiving it. Directions on how to set up and use an EBT card were provided by the MDHHS. Families already receiving food assistance benefits should expect to receive additional benefits within the next couple weeks to use at Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, retailers.

The card will be issued under the oldest student’s name, but will cover all students in the household. The amount of those benefits will be no less than what the family would have received with free or reduced-cost lunches during the regular school period. The student will have enough food benefits to cover March through June.

For families who do not receive food assistance, they should expect MDHHS notices within the next couple weeks, and EBT cards will arrive at the households by the first week of May.