With roughly 133,000 Santa Clara County residents expected to lose their federal food assistance benefits next month amid the government shutdown, the county is giving $4.5 million to Second Harvest of Silicon Valley as the food bank braces for a surge in demand.<\/p>\n
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as CalFresh in California, is a critical lifeline that helps 5.5 million low-income residents in the state pay for groceries.<\/p>\n
But those benefits, which can be up to $785 per month for a family of three, are set to expire on Nov. 1 as the\u00a0Trump administration has said it won\u2019t dip into $5 billion in contingency funds\u00a0to help sustain the program. A\u00a0federal judge is expected to issue a ruling\u00a0ahead of Saturday on whether the government can cut off the funding to the program.<\/p>\n
The move comes several months after the president\u2019s tax and spending bill cut $200 billion in food assistance benefits for recipients across the country over the next decade.<\/p>\n
Leslie Bacho, the CEO of Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, anticipates that lines at their distribution sites will get longer starting this weekend. The food bank currently serves roughly 500,000 people a month across Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.<\/p>\n
Bacho described the impact of the loss of CalFresh benefits as families and seniors sitting around the kitchen\u00a0trying to figure out how to keep paying rent, utilities and other bills while still putting food on the table. This latest blow comes at a time when Silicon Valley is already facing a food insecurity crisis with the region\u2019s rates higher than the national average, Bacho said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot control what happens in Washington D.C., but we can control how we show up for our neighbors right here at home,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Santa Clara County Executive James Williams said the funding, which was announced at a press conference Thursday morning, would enable Second Harvest to \u201cpurchase more food and expand distribution points.\u201d The county already funds the nonprofit to the tune of $1 million annually.<\/p>\n
Williams said the money will come out of the county\u2019s contingency fund and could mean more cuts down the line as they grapple with a fiscal crisis manufactured by President Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cBig, Beautiful Bill.\u201d The county is currently\u00a0looking at making $200 million in cuts\u00a0to the Santa Clara Valley Healthcare system due to lost Medicaid revenues spelled out in the bill.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis makes things worse,\u201d Williams said of the budget situation. \u201cBut we have to continue to do the things that we can to try to take care of those most in need in our community. That\u2019s our commitment as a county organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
Santa Clara County Supervisor Sylvia Arenas, who represents parts of East San Jose along with Morgan Hill and Gilroy, worries about the effect the loss of food assistance benefits will have on those communities already grappling with violence, crime and other quality of life markers. In her district, 27,000 residents rely on CalFresh \u2014 60% of whom are seniors or children.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re already impacted and struggling in a community that is dealing with all kinds of different factors and now we\u2019re going to put hunger on top of it,\u201d she told The Mercury News. \u201cIt\u2019s going to impact the growth and the well being of our children. For our seniors, they\u2019re going to have to make decisions on whether they\u2019re going to have to pay for medication or pay for their rent or pay for other things when they\u2019re already on a very strict budget.\u201d<\/p>\n
Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors President Otto Lee called the loss of benefits \u201can even more dangerous and disturbing step by our federal administration.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s be clear, everyone regardless of income, immigration status, race, gender or age deserves equitable access to food,\u201d he said. \u201cMany people are simply one accident, one missed paycheck or one hospitalization away from being able to afford their next meal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aside from the $4.5 million, the county has been working to identify additional food supplies, volunteers and donors for Second Harvest of Silicon Valley to meet the increased need, according to Robert Sacasa, the assistant director for the county\u2019s department of employment and benefit services.<\/p>\n
The county agency has\u00a0begun reaching out to CalFresh recipients to notify them of the potential lapse in benefits and alert them to the resources available, as well. Sacasa said they are also coordinating with schools, cities and nonprofits to make sure \u201cno one falls through the cracks.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know how serious these disruptions are for local families,\u201d he said. \u201cWe remain committed to helping all of our residents live with dignity and access to benefits they are eligible for, and we\u2019re here to help our clients during this challenging time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Santa Clara County and San Mateo County residents can find food resources in their community by calling Second Harvest of Silicon Valley at 1-800-984-3663 or by visiting shfb.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With roughly 133,000 Santa Clara County residents expected to lose their federal food assistance benefits next month amid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40255,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[7,181,23,100,180,88,90,89],"class_list":{"0":"post-40254","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-latest-headlines","10":"tag-local-news","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newsletter","13":"tag-san-jose","14":"tag-san-jose-headlines","15":"tag-san-jose-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}