18.03.2020, 10:19
Helping Families in Need During the COVID-19 Crisis
With schools shut across the United States, Expensify is redirecting charitable funds from its “lunch debt” fund (www.expensify.org/hunger) to a new program that matches up to US $50 of SNAP card grocery purchases made by families in need.
Explaining the initiative, company founder and President, David Barrett, says:
“Not everyone has the resources to ‘shelter in place’; especially the millions of people in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Living paycheck to paycheck is hard when millions of businesses around the nation are closing down indefinitely, and hourly workers (including those dependent upon tips) are the hardest hit. In particular, families with kids whose primary meals happen at school are especially vulnerable when those schools shut down.”
He also cautions: “To be clear, we can’t commit to reimbursing every single person in need. We have no idea how many people will do this, and unfortunately, we don’t have unlimited funds. We also don’t know how long this crisis will last and how far our brand new charity’s resources will stretch.
“But we’re going to do what we can with the funds donated on behalf of Expensify Cardholders via the Karma Points feature, as well as by the extremely generous donors who have signed up for our Corporate and Personal Karma programs.”
SNAP card holders whose families are experiencing food hardship should:
- Purchase food as normal with their SNAP card
- Download the Expensify app on iOS or Android for free
- Join the Expensify.org/hunger policy
- SmartScan the receipt, which will tell us how much you paid and show that it was paid for with an Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card
- Submit it to [email protected]; and
- Set up their bank account to receive the funds.
Barrett pledges, “So long as we have funds available, we will reimburse up to $50 per family (one time), the very next day.
