News from Food Service

Summer EBT is a new permanent federal program that helps low-income families with school-aged children buy groceries when schools are closed for the summer. It can be used to buy food wherever SNAP is accepted. Follow the provided links for FAQ.

Benefit issuance

Payment mechanism:

Benefits will be paid on an EBT card for active DTA households and on a Summer EBT card for all others.

Benefit Amount:

$40 per month issued in one lumpsum payment of $120 per

child. Paid to one household card.

Issuance Dates:

• July 25, 2024*

• August 25, 2024

• September 25, 2024

A hotline established for Summer EBT clients: 1-855-425-8770

New website for client FAQ and resource materials for community organizations.

https://www.mass.gov/massachusetts-summer-ebt-program

Lunenburg School Food Service made the transition to LINQ school nutrition software in August of 2024. We no longer use PowerSchool/RevTrak as a point of sale/payment platform. Meal accounts will not reflect deposits or balances in either PowerSchool/RevTrak.

How to Register

Download the LINQ Connect app from your app store or visit linqconnect.com. Click “Register” to create your account.

For Families- Once you have created your account you will need to link your student/'s to your account. To link students you will select the Lunenburg school district from the drop down menu - add your student first, last name and date of birth.

For Staff - Once you have created a LINQ Connect account with your personal email you will link your

Linq account to your LINQ Connect account as well as any students you have in the district. to link your linq meal account select the Lunenburg school district from the drop down menu , enter your 4 digit ID number, your first and last name. Then link your family/students - select the Lunenburg school district from the drop down menu , student first, last name and date of birth.

If you have any questions or need assistance at any point during the registration process or while using LINQ Connect, please do not hesitate to reach out to the LINQ Connect support team at support@linqconnect.com or 844-467-4700. For faster response, try the new online web chat support feature at linqconnect.com.

For families and staff that would rather not use LINQ Connect, adding funds to a meal accounts with cash or a check is still an option. When sending a check please remember all checks must be made out to the Town of Lunenburg. Please use the memo line detailing who the check is for full name and or ID number.

A Gentle reminder for families that qualify for meal benefits in the upcoming school year. Please complete the sharing information form that you receive with your notification letter. To save you time and effort through out the school year. When families receive this form it very important to complete it and return it to the food service director. The meal benefit status cannot be shared without the family's consent. Families that qualify for meal benefits may also qualify for a reduction of or waiver of school associated fees such as AP testing, athletics and field trips and more.

Turkey Hill Elementary is approved to enroll in the Community Eligibility Provision(CEP). Schools that participate in CEP are no longer required to collect free and reduced price meal benefit applications to determine student eligibility for free and reduced price meals. LEAs must match student enrollment records for participating CEP schools through the Virtual Gateway at least once during the school year (7 CFR 245.6(b)(1)(v)).

Conversely, CEP does not make all of the students attending Turkey Hill eligible for reductions or waivers of school-associated fees. The district will use an alternative income form to determine eligibility in these cases.

What does this mean? If you have only one student in the district and that student is attending Turkey Hill you don't need to complete a meal benefit application.

If you have two students in the district and one is attending Turkey Hill and the other is attending the the middle school you would complete a meal benefit application.