Summer EBT: Food Benefits for Eligible Children During the Summer Months

Important reminders

  • We are no longer accepting any applications or requests for fair hearings for Summer 2024.
  • Summer EBT benefits must be used within 122 days of them being put on the cards. Any benefits left after then will be removed automatically.
  • Summer EBT benefits are sent to families in one payment to cover the whole summer. The $120 benefit amount for each eligible child provided $40 for each month of June, July, and August for Summer 2024.

Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) is an income-based program that helps families who qualify buy food for their children while school is out.

Receiving Summer EBT will not affect your family or child's immigration status.

Need help with Summer EBT?

  • Update your contact information.
  • Opt-out from getting Summer EBT benefits for Summer 2025.
  • Call QUEST Card Service at 877-415-5164 with questions about your card.

If you need help with anything else, contact the Summer EBT Support Team at dhssebtsupport@wi.gov.

Summer EBT in 2024

In 2024, through Summer EBT, families could get $120 in benefits for each eligible child in their household. The benefits are issued once a summer to eligible children. This means that once a child has been sent benefits, they will not get any more Summer EBT benefits for that year.

The final systematic issuance of Summer EBT benefits for 2024 occurred on Saturday, September 21, 2024. With the help of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families (DCF), the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) identified over 450,000 eligible children throughout Wisconsin. In total, DHS was able to issue over $54 million to about 248,000 eligible families across the state.

This webpage will be updated with information about Summer EBT in 2025 as it becomes available.

 Getting Summer EBT

 Using Summer EBT

 Appeals

 Resources

Summer EBT flyer, P-03603

Summer EBT Benefit Management Tool

Summer Food Service Program

 Wisconsin's Summer EBT Plans

Summer EBT Plan for Operations and Management (POM)

DHS prepared a plan for Summer EBT for 2024 with the support of DPI and DCF. The plan detailed who is eligible, and how benefits will be sent to eligible children. DHS was the first state in the nation to have their plan approved by the United States Department of Agriculture for the summer of 2024.

Download Wisconsin’s Summer EBT plan for the summer of 2024 (PDF).

Coordinated Services Plan

This is the Wisconsin Department of Health Services' notice to the public that DHS and DPI, as partners in administering the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer for Children Program (Summer EBT), have submitted a waiver to the USDA to waive regulatory provisions for this program. Specifically, the departments asked to defer the January 1, 2025, compliance date for the Coordinated Services Plan. This waiver was submitted on December 12, 2024, and was approved December 18, 2024. The waiver is effective through January 1, 2026.

Last revised December 18, 2024