“While the situation in Washington remains uncertain, here in San Francisco, we are taking care of each other,” Lurie said Wednesday. “This city stands with our workers, our kids and our seniors, and we’ll keep doing what it takes to ensure San Franciscans remain safe and healthy.”
Even as San Francisco aims to close the gap, experts say the SNAP suspension could represent a loss of $20 million a month in benefits, meaning more is needed to help low-income families in the city cope with loss of food benefits while keeping up with the cost of living in the Bay Area.
There is an exponential amount of need at the moment that isn’t being met with the matched resources,” said Pegah Faed, executive director of Safe and Sound.
Faed’s organization supports an alliance of family services groups in San Francisco that announced a fund to help families at risk of losing access to SNAP and the federal supplemental nutrition program for women, infants and children, known as WIC. It is considering giving direct cash or vouchers.
Advocates from these organizations hope the fund will draw in more donations the same way they saw people pool resources to help families in need during the pandemic. They expect to set up a fundraising website on Wednesday.
Safe and Sound joins an alliance of family service groups in San Francisco, announcing a new fund to help families at risk of losing access to SNAP and the federal WIC nutrition program. It is considering offering direct cash assistance or vouchers. (Rawpixel/iStock / Getty Images Plus)
“Many felt extremely generous and wanted to support families in need during that time,” Faed said. “This is a different situation but the needs are huge for a certain population of families, so I’m hoping that we’ll be able to generate a lot of momentum and support for the fund.”
Faed said it was too soon to announce an initial amount or a fundraising goal.
“The collective awareness of how important this particular moment and time is to support those who are receiving these benefits is at an all-time high,” Faed said. “Everyone is trying to do their part because no child, no individual should have to go a day without knowing where their next meal is coming from.”