About 400,000 people in San Diego County are expected to have their CalFresh benefits cut off this weekend because of the federal government shutdown.
Among those are more than 100,000 children, along with seniors, people with disabilities and veterans.
Feeding San Diego CEO Bob Kamensky framed the looming emergency in stark terms.
“This morning when I pulled into our parking lot, I saw a line of people extending out from our marketplace pantry outside our facility, two hours before scheduled opening,” he said.
And he didn’t stop there.
“TSA employees (received) 700 family boxes just last week. (The) Airport Authority — they’ve requested 800 more next week,” Kamensky said.
“When families lose access to food assistance, the impact does not stop at the dinner table. They fall behind on rent, on medications, on car payments — they take on more personal debt just to get by,” said San Diego County Board of Supervisors Chair Terra Lawson-Remer.
But Thursday’s news conference wasn’t just about describing the problem. It was also about what’s being done to help fill the gap — and how to access that assistance.
“We’ve already implemented about a dozen pop-up distributions for federal workers and we are implementing additional pop-up for CalFresh recipients,” said Jacobs and Cushman Food Bank CEO Casey Castillo.
It can be overwhelming for people who suddenly find themselves without food benefits, but there is a one-stop shopping option: the county’s 211 line.
“Anyone can simply call 211 to speak with a trained specialist or visit 211sandiego.org, where we have dedicated a full page and search capabilities for all the food assistance for shutdown related activities,” said 211 San Diego CEO Bill York.
There was a glimmer of hope Thursday that all this could end up a moot point. A federal judge indicated today she will intervene and force the Administration to spend about $6 billion it has in emergency funding.
But even if that happens, it will only fund about three weeks of benefits next month. The organizations represented by the people at Thursday’s news conference said they’ll be ready to help, no matter when the help is needed.
