This month, families, businesses, and students in our community felt the effects of the suspended SNAP benefits, also known as CalFresh in California. With rising food inflation, many Americans struggle to make ends meet as is. In Humboldt County, 22% of people rely on SNAP/CalFresh benefits.
SNAP recipients did not see balances reloaded onto their EBT cards on November 1st due to the government shutdown, which has been the longest in U.S. history. When congress cannot approve a spending bill, federal programs and agencies lose their funding for programs such as CalFresh.
The effects of this suspension include not only those relying on SNAP to eat, but the local grocery stores and businesses felt the loss of what amounts to roughly six million dollars monthly in Humboldt County alone.
It’s in these trying times that our community comes together the most to help one another. Food distribution organizations, businesses, and schools have been met with an increased demand of those facing food insecurity.
Food for People, a countywide food bank that serves over 21,000 Humboldt County residents monthly, is stepping in to fill the gap left by the lack of SNAP benefits.
“We have been inundated with demand in the last two weeks and are working hard to keep up. Right now, our team, available food, and volunteers are stretched to full capacity, trying to ensure our existing programs stay open, and we can try to assist all the new people coming to us for assistance, including some Emergency Drive-thru distributions,” Carly Robbins, Executive Director of Food for People, said.
Food for People expanded its programs through emergency drive-thru food distributions at College of the Redwoods and the Hoopa Valley Food Distribution parking lot, along with increasing food purchases for all 23 Food Pantries across the county. They distributed a higher volume of food to households in need. These changes are simply not enough to meet the needs of over 30,000 SNAP recipients in Humboldt County.
“It’s really important to remember that nationwide food bank networks are not built for this kind of response. A statistic that I point to a lot is that for every one meal a food bank provides, SNAP or CalFresh benefits provide nine. Trying to take that on in the existing network is kind of inconceivable, but we are doing everything we can to prepare,” Robbins told the Lost Coast Outpost.
Many local restaurants, such as Falafel Love, Old Town Coffee & Chocolates, Los Bagels, and Esmerelda’s 2.0, have done their part by offering free or discounted meals for SNAP recipients. Facebook and other social media have been a valuable resource for many Humboldt County residents to exchange information and resources.
The owners of Humboldt Gold Exchange, a local coin and jewelry dealer, who are giving free meals to families in need, believe “this isn’t a time for judgment. It’s a time for kindness, for giving when you can, and supporting when you can.”
The cuts have had effects on children in schools, as hunger can interfere with the learning environment.
“When you’re talking about younger grades, you see behavioral changes like acting out in class as a response to the stress that they’re seeing at home,” Arcata High School Social Worker Meaghan Watts said. “With older students, a lot of times it is more internalized. We see a lot of anxiety and stress. What do we know about kids who are hungry? You can’t focus on your coursework or what your teachers are saying if your stomach is empty.”
Watts, along with other Northern Humboldt United School District staff, has reacted to the news quickly by creating a food drive and offering on-site resources to anyone who needs them. Watts believes that by focusing on providing resources for Arcata High students and families specifically, rather than the broader community, it is more effective in creating tailored and individualized help where it is needed.
The issue of food insecurity is not only an issue when SNAP benefits are cut, and students can help year round.
There are so many ways for young people to get involved! The annual food drive that local high schools participate in every holiday season collects so much food that it keeps our shelves stocked for many months after.
-Carly Robbins
Arcata High’s Holiday Food Drive has just begun and will be a competition between teacher’s classrooms. The reward for the teacher with the most donated food before December 11th, will be a class party in each period!
The community’s response to this issue has been a reminder of what compassion can achieve.
“This is the kind of moment that requires a wide variety of people, businesses, and strategies to ensure no one in our community goes hungry,” Robbins said. “Every idea and way of helping is needed and helps us all get to the same goal: making sure no one goes hungry in this community. I hope this spirit continues because hunger is a year-long issue in Humboldt County.”
