Eligible Iowa households can receive a monthly allotment to spend on certain food items at the grocery store throughout the summer now that Iowa plans to participate in the federal summer feeding program.

Gov. Kim Reynolds announced Monday the decision to participate in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s SUN Bucks, or Summer EBT, program, which the state has opted out of the past two years.

Key to Reynolds’ decision to adopt the program for summer 2026 was the USDA’s approval of a waiver that would align the summer feeding program with the state’s changes to eligible foods under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

As it did for several other states, USDA approved a waiver in Iowa that prohibits SNAP recipients from spending their nutrition assistance allotments on sugary drinks, candy and other sweetened snacks. The Healthy SNAP program, as it is called in Iowa, takes effect Jan. 1.

“Food assistance programs that are nutrition focused do more to help low-income Iowans by addressing both hunger and health,” Reynolds said in the news release. “Now, with the USDA’s approval of our waiver to align the SUN Bucks program with Iowa’s new Healthy SNAP guidelines, we can provide healthy food plus convenience for children and families.”

The SUN Bucks program distributes $40 each month during the summer, per child, to households that already participate in SNAP, are eligible for free and reduced-price school lunch or have a qualifying income. These funds are loaded directly to Electronic Benefit Transfer, or EBT, cards and can be used at authorized retailers. Under Iowa’s waiver, these funds cannot purchase the same sugary drinks and snacks that are not allowed under the state’s SNAP waiver.

Reynolds said the SUN Bucks program has “lacked a focus on nutrition” which is why the state launched its own summer feeding program, Healthy Kids Iowa, last summer.

Rather than loading funds on an EBT card, Healthy Kids Iowa provided qualifying households with a box of $40 worth of food each month during the summer. These boxes were packed and distributed by food banks and pantries around the state which reported some logistical challenges with the program.

Advocates in the anti-hunger sphere in Iowa have been opposed to the state’s summer feeding program, arguing it left federal funding on the table and wasn’t as accessible to food-insecure Iowans.

Paige Chickering, the Iowa state manager with Save the Children Action Network, said the Monday announcement to participate in SUN Bucks was unexpected, but “tremendously exciting.”

“We’re really just overjoyed that this is being implemented in our state and that we’re following suit with so many other states across the country who are utilizing this fantastic hunger fighting program and ensuring that kids are getting the food that they need in the summer months,” Chickering said.

Feedback from Iowans

In November, Chickering and volunteers submitted a petition to the state, with hundreds of signatures, urging it to participate in the SUN Bucks program.

“We’re just massively excited that our advocacy efforts have really paid off,” Chickering said. “I think the governor has listened to what Iowans want to see, which is kids being fed in the summer months in a way that will be super accessible, easy, equitable, feasible for their families, and that’s what we get with Summer EBT.”

The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services posted Monday the results of an evaluation of the Healthy Kids Iowa pilot program from the summer, as was required by the USDA waiver.

More than 80% of Iowans who were surveyed and used the program said they were satisfied with the program, with the variety of food, the quality of food and the nutritional value of the food, according to the published evaluation.

Despite satisfaction within the program, 57% of respondents said they would prefer the Summer EBT program instead of Healthy Kids Iowa. A quarter of respondents preferred the state program, according to the results.

Chickering said the federally funded program has the capacity to serve 245,000 children across Iowa this summer. Results of the Healthy Kids Iowa program show it distributed boxes to more than 65,000 children.

Regarding the Healthy SNAP restrictions on the Summer EBT funding, Chickering said her organization continues to believe that Iowans should “be able to make the right food choices for their families.” She said it is “not necessarily surprising” the state wanted to include the same requests it has made to USDA on other feeding programs.

“Overall we really feel that the best possible choice we can make for Iowa’s children though is to be opting into the summer EBT program,” Chickering said.

According to the release, enrollment and eligibility information will be available online early in the new calendar year.