ENP STAFF REPORTS
news@eastniagarapost.com

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ALBANY — EBT cards, commonly referred to as Food Stamps cards, will not work Sunday morning as the state is transitioning to a new system.

According to the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, the system will be down from midnight until approximately noon on Sunday. It will affect both food purchases and cash withdrawals from qualifying ATMs.

People who use EBT cards will not need new cards with the new system and the outage will not affect medical benefits.

A notice from the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance appears below in its entirety:

There will be a period of time on Sunday, September 21, 2014 when your Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card will not work for cash or food purchases, or to withdraw cash. This EBT downtime is expected to last from 12:01 a.m. to noon on Sunday, September 21, 2014. You will need to plan your cash and food purchases, and cash withdrawals accordingly. The downtime is necessary while New York State changes EBT vendors. After the conversion, your current EBT card will continue to work, and there is no need to replace your card. There will be no impact on your ability to access your medical benefits.

If you are in need of food assistance during the EBT downtime period, please visit your nearest food pantry or soup kitchen that is usually open on Sundays. If you are in New York City, you may call the NYC Hunger Hotline number (1-866-888-8777) for information on the location and hours of operation of food assistance sites. For information on food assistance sites outside New York City that will be open on Sunday, please call the OTDA hotline number at 1-800-342-3009.

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