LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Families are confused after receiving letters from the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services saying their summer EBT funding expired.
Lisa Tellier’s family qualified for the funding during the COVID-19 pandemic.
EBT is a government program that helps lower-earning families buy food.
But last year, the Telliers’ income was too high, so their application was denied.
So it came as a shock Thursday when Lisa Tellier opened a letter that says that she did receive 2023 pandemic EBT funding and that the money expired Sunday.
She said it was postmarked Tuesday, two days after the funds ran out.
“People online on the Nextdoor app were saying it would be about $120 that would have been on it,” Tellier said. “That would have helped because I had surgery just a few weeks ago, and I haven’t been working.”
Tellier said she called the phone number listed in the letter to see if she was able to keep some of the money, but it had already been zeroed out.
So she posted about it on social media, and several people chimed in on her post, saying they also received a letter and they’re just as confused.
Some even thought it was a scam.
She wishes there would have been a warning further in advance.
On Friday, DHHS provided some clarification on the letters, saying they were only about pandemic EBT funding, which is separate from summer EBT.
“P-EBT has ended, as the program was designed as a temporary response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and its funds have an expungement date of nine months,” the department said in a statement. “Although not required by the federal government, DHHS made an effort to reach out to those individuals who had not yet used those funds prior to their expiration.”
DHHS said it will publish more information to educate people on the difference between the pandemic and summer EBT funds.
Tellier is more concerned for the families who really need the money to feed their children.
“I think DHHS should reapply the money to our cards since we didn’t know anything about it,” she said.
