More than 2 million Florida K-12 students who rely on free and reduced lunch programs will get additional assistance in June. 

Students who usually receive free and reduced-cost lunches will receive an additional $5.70 for every day they’ve been out of school through Florida’s Pandemic EBT program. 

Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida’s Kelly Quintero says families who are already signed up for the SNAP program will see this money on their EBT cards in June.

“And if they’re not already a SNAP recipient, they’ll get a letter in the mail indicating their eligibility for it.”

Quintero says for every one meal Second Harvest provides, the SNAP program can provide nine. 

She says the expansion of the program will help meet an increased demand for food in the tri-county area. 

That’s why the food bank set up a free hotline to help with the application.

“It will probably take about an hour or so for us to work through the entire application. And this is both available in English and Spanish. So anybody can give us a call if they’re just having a hard time with the application because it can get really confusing, very fast.”

Quintero says Second Harvest provides some 12,000 meals a day in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties. 

The hotline number is 407-295-2777. 

Con escuelas cerradas debido a #COVID19, estamos anunciando que a través de nuestro programa Summer BreakSpot, niños tendrán acceso a alimentos durante el verano.

Para encontrar un sitio cerca tuyo:

☎️Llame al 2-1-1
🤳Envia “FOODFL” al 877-877
💻Visita https://t.co/Nalnvb2DH4

— FL Dept. of Agriculture & Consumer Services (@FDACS) May 27, 2020

If you’d like to listen to the story, click on the clips above.