P-EBT cards mistakenly sent out to metro Atlanta families

ATLANTA - Families who don’t qualify for free or reduced school lunches received free benefits cards in the mail this week. It puzzled many. The FOX 5 I-Team discovered it was a big mistake. 

Here’s what we know. P-EBT cards arrived in the mail this week. Our sources tell us this was an error. These cards are supposed to be for children who qualify for free or reduced lunch. The cards carry $120 and there’s one for each child in the family. 

Here’s the mix-up: During the pandemic, sometimes families in entire school districts no matter the income level received these, pandemic-related EBT cards, or P-EBT, for groceries. At the time, it was an all-or-nothing disbursement. It seems some school districts, per sources, sent old data to the state for this round. So, everybody got them again. How far-reaching the impact is we don’t know. It’s still under investigation. 

If you have already used yours and bought groceries with it, well, you got free groceries. There’s no putting that genie back in the bottle. But if you haven’t, and many have not because they felt very uncomfortable about getting free money, then shred the card. The money and the card will expire in a year.