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Low-income families in North Carolina with school-age children will soon get additional food benefits thanks to federal funds sought by state government due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Gov. Roy Cooper announced on Monday that the state is among the first four approved by U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide help with federal funds through the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer.

Each family whose children are eligible for free and reduced school lunches will get automatically $250 in benefits per child on their EBT card in two installments, Cooper’s office said.

Eligible families that aren’t enrolled already in the government’s Food and Nutrition Services program will be mailed a new card in the next few weeks, according to a news release.

The program, which Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen said could help families with more than 800,000 children combined, also could be extended should the public schools remain closed beyond May 15.

Program families already are getting the maximum amount of monetary benefits for their household size through April.

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