How to resolve AdBlock issue? LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — While delayed federal food benefits have finally begun to roll out, officials warn hunger relief in Lake County remains urgently needed with local agencies continuing to organize efforts in response to food insecurity.
On Friday, the California Department of Social Services said California families are beginning to see their benefits “restored” on their EBT cards.
This development followed a federal court ruling Thursday ordering the Trump administration to release full benefits of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, by Friday.
While the administration promptly appealed the decision and obtained a temporary stay on Friday, some recipients of SNAP — and its California version, CalFresh — began receiving benefits as early as Thursday evening.
The state’s social services department said that, in accordance with the court order, it has “taken steps to provide full November benefits” for all 5.5 million Californians on CalFresh.
In Lake County, however, officials alerted that 16,320 CalFresh recipients — representing 10,333 families — may still face uncertainty surrounding basic food support, according to a county press release issued on Friday.
“Hunger relief is still urgently needed,” the press release stated. “Supports typically available for December are uncertain, at this time.”
“SNAP (Calfresh) benefits are being released, but hunger relief is still critically needed,” Supervisor Pyska said in a Friday Facebook post.
During the time of increased food insecurity and delayed benefits, local food distribution points “observed increased demand this week,” the press release said, noting that Clear Lake Gleaners alone reported distributing 1,465 bags of food in two days.
By Friday afternoon, no data had been available on how many Lake County residents had received their benefits or the amount they had received, as the state department had not yet released the information, according to Chief Deputy County Administrative Officer Matthew Rothstein.
County allocated $80,000 in address food security
On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors approved $80,000 in county General Fund for expenditures over a two-week period to address food security from Nov. 4 to 18. An ad hoc committee was also established to administer the funds and coordinate the efforts to feed residents.
Friday morning, Lake County Social Service Director Rachel Dillman Parsons told a group of community partners that $70,000 of the amount had been obligated to Redwood Empire Food Bank, which provides food support to 16,450 Lake County residents through direct food distribution and partnering with 12 nonprofit or faith-based organizations, including Clear Lake Gleaners, according the the press release.
Next week, Lake County’s food pantries will begin to receive “targeted increased food supplies,” and two pallets of “Meals Ready to Eat,” or MREs, are expected to arrive early next week, to be distributed by the Peer Support Centers.
Rothstein told Lake County News on Friday that these initial MREs cost another $3,800 of the county funds, with the usage of the remaining just over $6,000 not yet finalized.
“Members of the Ad Hoc have been inclined to gauge whether two further pallets of MREs may be needed, as one example,” He said. “As you will appreciate, the situation remains dynamic.”
And to add to the confusing dynamic — on Friday night, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a temporary stay on the decision ordering that SNAP benefits be released.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson granted the stay to allow the First District Court of Appeals to make its determination on the stay the Trump administration had also filed with it regarding the decision earlier this week by the District Court for the District of Rhode Island.
Justice Brown Jackson’s ruling noted that the First District Court planned to deal with the motion before it “as quickly as possible.”
Despite the ongoing litigation, Dillman Parsons said in a Friday statement that there is no error in the ongoing benefits issuance.
Recipients who have received or are receiving their benefits are encouraged to use them, she said.
The county’s social services department maintains an updated list of community resources pinned to their Facebook page. Food assistance resources are also available at the county website which includes a five-page food distribution list in both English and Spanish.
Email staff reporter Lingzi Chen at
