Nutrition Program Benefits for Reservists

Emergency food providers from around the country are reporting a surge in demand from the families of reservists. Families of reservists often experience sharp drops in income for many months – although reservists receive military pay, they typically lose their civilian pay while serving.

At the bottom of this page are links to news articles on emergency food requests.

Benefits from nutrition programs like school lunch and food stamps can be very helpful to families with such drops in income. These nutrition program benefits are available to military families who meet the eligibility tests, and agencies should act quickly to reach out to such families.

Link here for more information:
http://www.4militaryfamilies.com/finances.htm (scroll down for information on food stamps and WIC)

Families can apply for school meals, for example, any time during the school year; it need not be at the beginning of the year. We encourage you to download, reproduce and distribute FRAC's brochure (in Spanish and English ) explaining how parents can get their children into school lunch and breakfast programs at any time of the year.

Deployed Military and the Child Nutrition Programs

The School Breakfast and Lunch Programs provide free and reduced price meals to children with lower incomes who are attending school. Child care centers and family child care homes offer meals and snacks to preschool children in their care through the Child and Adult Care Food Program. The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) provides a monthly supplemental food package to low-income nutritionally at risk pregnant and postpartum women, infants and children up to the age of five. Also, government-subsidized after school snacks and meals are available in many schools, parks and recreation programs, and community programs for children; and, during the summer months, schools, city and county recreation programs, and local nonprofit organizations that offer programs for children and youth can provide free meals through the Summer Food Service Program or the School Lunch Program to many children whose families have lower incomes.

Some special rules apply to the families of deployed service members to assist them in obtaining important nutrition benefits through the child nutrition programs:

• Income eligibility for child nutrition programs is generally based on income and family size. For the purpose of determining household size, deployed service members are considered as family members. Families should include the names of deployed service members on their application forms. In addition, only that portion of the deployed service member's income made available by them or on their behalf to the family is counted as income to the household. That means that the income families put on their program applications should only include that part of their income that is made available to them. These two special rules should help more households become eligible for child nutrition benefits.
  
  
• If deployment of a parent or guardian causes a child to live with his or her child care provider (who provides meals through the Child and Adult Care Food Program) while the service member is deployed, the child will continue to participate in the meal service as if he or she was a nonresidential participant (i.e., the child would not be considered the "provider's own" child.) To claim reimbursement for program meals under this special rule, the child care provider must have power of attorney, custody, or an agreement established by the military to provide residential care to the child.

Food Stamps

The Food Stamp Program provides a monthly allotment of benefits based on a household's income and resources. In almost all states food stamp households can redeem their benefits at grocery stores by using an Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card that is similar to a commercial credit card. Recent improvements in the Food Stamp Program continue to make the Program more accessible for working families, including those of reservists. In most states, households can own vehicles of reasonable value and still be eligible for food stamps. Many states also have shortened application forms and have streamlined enrollment and reporting procedures, making it easier for families to get connected and stay connected with the program. And federal food stamp benefits can help a family stretch the food budget (and boost the local economy). The average monthly food stamp benefit in January was $ 82.68 per person. Link here for eligibility information from USDA in English and Spanish .