\t\t\t\t\tWhat’s at stake?<\/p>\n
The City of Fresno will vote to give a quarter of a million dollars to the Central California Food Bank on Thursday. The money would go toward helping alleviate the burden of food insecurity for thousands across the Central Valley.<\/p>\n
The Central California Food Bank, the San Joaquin Valley\u2019s premier hunger-relief organization, can expect to receive a quarter of a million dollars from the City of Fresno following a procedural vote this Thursday<\/a>.<\/p>\n The donation would add Fresno City Hall to the growing list of groups stepping up to try and fill the emerging void left by the interruption and delay of SNAP\/CalFresh benefits to the millions of Americans who depend on the program to feed their families.<\/p>\n Fresno City Councilmember Nelson Esparza, who represents the east central district, pledged $50,000 from his office\u2019s budget to the city\u2019s total gift amount. Esparza said he saw the money as necessary relief for local residents, given the remaining uncertainty of the federal food assistance program.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t know how long SNAP will take,\u201d Esparza told Fresnoland over text on Friday, \u201cand there\u2019s still a lot of need out there with federal workers, the added pressure of Thanksgiving, and the average household getting absolutely crunched by cost of living right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Kym Dildine<\/a>, co-CEO of the food bank, told ABC30 Monday morning<\/a> that she expects her organization\u2019s food banks to see \u201cmore than double\u201d the number of visitors following the partial loss of SNAP benefits in November. She said the food bank normally serves 320,000 individuals monthly across the organization\u2019s distribution centers across the central San Joaquin Valley<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n That demand \u201cis only increasing due to a lack of benefits,\u201d Dildine said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fresnoland did not immediately receive a response from the food bank on Monday morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n It is still unclear when the November SNAP\/CalFresh payments might come back online following a back-and-forth between President Donald Trump\u2019s administration and federal judges over the last few weeks.<\/p>\n Last month, funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program \u2014 the federal food stamp program commonly known as SNAP, and known in California as CalFresh \u2014 was expected to lapse in November under the direction of President Donald Trump\u2019s administration.\u00a0<\/p>\n The president\u2019s administration declined to access emergency funding, attributing the decision as a consequence of the ongoing government shutdown<\/a> \u2014 now poised to become the longest federal work stoppage in the country\u2019s history.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, two federal judges late last week<\/a> ordered the administration to cover at least part of November\u2019s SNAP budget using federal emergency funding by Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n One of those rulings came from a case filed in Massachusetts federal court<\/a> by a coalition of over 20 states \u2014 among them California, at the behest of Gov. Gavin Newsom<\/a>, a Democrat who has been a vocal, long-time opponent of Trump.<\/p>\n It is unclear if there is enough money in the federal funding reserve to cover the entire amount owed to SNAP recipients in November<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n If that\u2019s the case, the Friday rulings include direction to the administration to get creative and seek funding from other departments to cover the funding gap, similar to what was done to help pay for the salaries of the country\u2019s military<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Trump shared on social media last week that he\u2019s ordered his legal counsel to ask the courts to clarify how they can legally allocate money toward SNAP.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf we are given the appropriate legal direction by the Court, it will BE MY HONOR to provide the funding,\u201d Trump said in a post on the Truth Social media platform on Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n Newsom called the withholding of SNAP funding \u201ccruel,\u201d \u201cimmoral\u201d and \u201cbeneath us as a nation\u201d in a statement following the court rulings last week.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cCalifornia will keep fighting to make sure people get the food assistance they need and deserve,\u201d Newsom said in the statement<\/a> shared online.\u00a0<\/p>\n As of Monday morning<\/a>, the Trump administration announced it would pay 50% of November\u2019s SNAP funding. It remains unclear when they will become available, and if the ongoing shutdown will also threaten December\u2019s funding amount.<\/p>\n The City of Fresno\u2019s financial gift comes alongside other leaders nationwide who have pitched in money and support to help cover the gap in resources relied upon by more than 41 million Americans<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Last week<\/a>, a coalition of local leaders including California Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria (D-Merced) and the Fresno Unified School District donated $15,000 to the Central California Food Bank.<\/p>\n Newsom ordered National Guard troops last week to assist in food distribution<\/a> at local food banks across the state. California\u2019s volunteer office has also started an initiative<\/a> to educate local citizens and groups on how they can help out community members in need.\u00a0<\/p>\n