Hawaiʻi families with keiki who normally qualify for free or reduced-price school lunch are eligible for a second round of Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer Program (P-EBT) food-purchasing assistance of up to $286 per child.

Hawaiʻi Appleseed has created and published a series of multi-lingual infographics to assist families in need, many of whom speak a primary language other than English. Benefits are automatically loaded onto existing P-EBT cards or Kokua EBT cards, and new P-EBT cards are being mailed out now.

For more details about P-EBT, click here.

Check your P-EBT status here, and e-mail questions about P-EBT to hi.pebt@dhs.hawaii.gov

If you think you might be eligible but have not received benefits, you must apply for school meals to get into the system. Apply for school meals online here.

It may be too late for this second round of benefits, but as the pandemic and recession stretch on, it is entirely possible that another round will be sent. And, if your family qualifies, there’s no harm in getting on the list for reduced price meals anyway.