\u201cIt\u2019s gratifying that we can be here, but disheartening that we need to be here,\u201d Hunger at Home CEO Ewell Sterner told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight.<\/p>\n
Hunger at Home recently celebrated serving 1 million pounds of food in the last year. With the increase in food distribution, it\u2019s also seen fresh faces showing up: working people and a rising number of older adults. About 60% of people receiving food from the nonprofit are older adults.<\/p>\n
To accommodate the influx of people, Hunger at Home created multiple drive-thru lines in June to shorten the time people are waiting to receive produce.<\/p>\n
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Hunger at Home has seen a 30% increase of people coming to its food distribution since the start of the year. It serves 1,200 to 1,400 people each week. Photo by Joyce Chu.<\/p>\n
Phoebe, a San Jose resident who did not want to use her last name for privacy reasons, never thought she would be waiting in line for food. Last November, federal cuts scaled back her food stamp benefits by $100, leaving her with $180 a month to feed a family of three.<\/p>\n
Since she started coming to Hunger at Home this year, Phoebe said she can breathe easier and not worry about keeping her family fed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew that these (food distributions) exist, but I never had to go that low just to come and pick it up. But now there\u2019s no choice,\u201d Phoebe told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cNow (I) have extra food left over and don\u2019t have to worry. It helps.\u201d<\/p>\n
In June, work requirements for people receiving food stamps, known as CalFresh<\/a> in California, expanded to include adults ages 18 to 64, raising it from the prior cap of 54. Individuals previously exempt from work requirements, including homeless people, veterans and those aged out of foster care, are now required to work 80 hours a month.<\/p>\n Phoebe, 55, said she\u2019s\u00a0forced to choose between getting enough work to keep her food stamps or being denied benefits for making more money. Finding consistent or part-time work has been a challenge.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of companies have been lowering people\u2019s hours,\u201d she said. \u201cNow the price of groceries went up by a lot. When it rains, it pours. At least help the lower class.\u201d<\/p>\n In Santa Clara County, where more than 132,000 people relied on CalFresh last year, about 55,000 people are expected to lose their food benefits due to the expanded work requirement as a result of H.R.1, the federal spending bill passed last summer. The bill slashed food stamp benefits by $187 billion, the largest cut in the program\u2019s history.<\/p>\n Trish Garcia, operations manager at Martha\u2019s Kitchen, said they\u2019ve had to extend\u00a0food distribution hours since the\u00a0influx of new people seeking help in June. The\u00a0nonprofit is also seeing double to triple the amount of people standing in line than during the pandemic. Partners\u00a0who receive produce from Martha\u2019s Kitchen\u00a0have also seen increased demand<\/a>.<\/p>\n While Martha\u2019s Kitchen is working to get the word out about its food distributions, Garcia said the complicated process to recertify for benefits is another reason why the nonprofit is seeing longer lines. She\u2019s had personal experience helping her grandparents with their applications, and the process is more difficult than before.<\/p>\n \u201cThe questions that are on applications are confusing so it\u2019s easy for someone to answer incorrectly \u2026 even for someone like me,\u201d Garcia told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cI felt like giving up, I felt defeated. The (applications) are meant to be confusing. Because the more confused you get, the more people you deny. Which is the ultimate goal of the new restriction.\u201d<\/p>\n For many residents braving the heat to get groceries at Martha\u2019s Kitchen, it\u2019s one of multiple food pantries\u00a0they visit to get them through the week.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just changes in CalFresh that are drawing crowds to pick up food. The economy is pushing people who normally would be able to get by to the edge. That includes Paulina Brackemyre, who lost her job when the metal fabricating company she worked at for 15 years closed as a result of steel becoming too expensive to import \u2014 with tariffs<\/a> on foreign steel going to 50%. The company\u2019s sales plummeted because no one wanted to build, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a huge blow (for me),\u201d Brackemyre told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_7782-1024x768.jpeg\")
Paulina Brackemyre started going to Hunger at Home\u2019s food distribution at the Berryessa Flea Market after she lost her job in March. Photo by Joyce Chu.<\/p>\n
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