Sacramento County keeps CalFresh emergency response as court extends SNAP pause
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- Sacramento County keeps emergency operations active while CalFresh payments resume.
- County coordinates food banks, nonprofits and businesses to expand hunger relief.
- Residents and colleges report anxiety; community groups sustain food support efforts.
Sacramento County officials said Tuesday that they would continue operating under emergency conditions even as local CalFresh recipients saw their food benefits fully funded over the weekend and Congress moved closer to ending the government shutdown.
“Due to the ever-changing landscape of this emergency and the precarious nature of families in this community, we will maintain our current emergency operations until we feel it’s no longer needed,” said county spokesperson Janna Haynes.
Some families had to go without benefits for several days this month, Haynes said, and many federal workers in the Sacramento region are going unpaid in a season when the demand for food assistance always soars.
The House of Representatives could vote as early as Wednesday on a Senate plan to re-open the government and fund most agencies through Jan. 30, with money for agriculture, veterans and military construction extending to Sept. 30.
The agreement, if finalized, would stabilize the supplemental nutrition assistance program — known as SNAP nationally and CalFresh in California. USDA officials began releasing full payments to many households after court rulings ordered the agency to use contingency funds to cover November benefits.
The Supreme Court, meanwhile, issued a stay of those orders last week and extended it Tuesday, according to the Associated Press, but those orders appear moot for many California counties.
“All Sacramento County account holders were fully funded over the weekend, she said. “There were no partial payments.”
Haynes said the county expects December benefits to be funded “assuming this budget passes all checks,” but her department is still preparing for every option.
The county stood up its emergency operations center about a week before CalFresh benefits were paused, and it has remained active since, coordinating hunger relief with food banks, state agencies, nonprofit organizations and philanthropic groups.
While the Senate’s plan to re-open government offers hope, Haynes said, county officials “have not received specific guidance” from the California Department of Social Services or the U.S. Department of Agriculture about when any deal will be final.
Millions of CA residents affected
Nearly 400,000 residents across the Sacramento region, 5.5 million statewide and 42 million across the country were affected by delays or uncertainty as the federal budget impasse stretched through November, Haynes said.
Despite finally receiving November aid, CalFresh enrollees say the payment has not wiped out their anxiety. Erin Clews, a senior at the University of California, Santa Cruz, said she had to depend on a neighbor-supported pantry earlier this month to feed her two sons but received her benefits over the weekend.
“I am less stressed about this current month. Everything feels a big unpredictable, though,” she said. “This was a really stressful event, and it just made me realize this could happen any time.”
She said she’s now planning her finances more cautiously and encouraging others to strengthen community networks so “no children face the threat of a hungry stomach.”
Miles Sims, an 18-year-old freshman at American River College, said he and his mother are “less on edge now that they have received enough to eat.” The pair typically rely on between $300 and $500 in monthly benefits.
Local generosity and continued need
Community groups and businesses have stepped up as well. Domino’s franchise owner Hovig Ayvazian said his team has been donating free pizzas daily to food banks and service centers in Sacramento, Elk Grove and Big Bear Lake.
“Since we have been blessed with the means to help others,” Ayvazian said, “it’s our duty to do so. No one should sleep hungry.”
In Carmichael, employees at Hammerhead Games have opened a free in-store food closet that’s drawn steady traffic since launching a week ago.
Store manager Donovan Smith said the idea began during a work trip with owner Tony Myers when they batted around the idea of their store being a community hub to assist food-insecure families. As they were discussing, Smith said, another store employee called to propose the idea.
‘It just took off,” they said. “We’ve had people in and out all day. The closet empties multiple times a day, then gets refilled and emptied again. There are a lot of families coming in and using it, and they’re super thankful and happy we’re offering it. There are just a lot of people hurting right now.”
Hammerhead Games, a trading card and tabletop gaming store specializing in Magic: The Gathering, Warhammer 40000 and Dungeons & Dragons, has been a brick-and-mortar retailer for seven years. It moved to 5800 Madison Ave. in June 2024.
Inside the store, shelves to the right of the entrance are stacked with nonperishable foods, hygiene products, pet food and donated blankets and sweaters, Smith said. One regular customer has contributed carloads of supplies, they said.
Even as federal funding resumes, local colleges, businesses and nonprofits are joining county agencies in maintaining relief efforts for as long as Sacramento-area residents need them.
At Hammerhead Games, Donvan Smith said: “We plan to continue probably until the end of the year — and there’s a very good chance we just keep doing it. ... Even with people getting their benefits again, there’s still a need.”
Elisa Smith, a spokesperson for the Foundation for California Community Colleges, said her nonprofit agency is continuing its fundraising for student food security. Nearly half of the 2.1 million students at community colleges have experienced hunger, according to the CEO Affordability, Food & Housing Access Taskforce Report.
“We understand there still may be delays and many of our students are food insecure.” Smith said.
The Bee Capitol Bureau’s David Lightman contributed to this story.
