Local food bank and food pantries prepare for a tsunami of hungry people
More than 3,700 people in Sebastopol and West County—and 43,000 countywide—rely on federal food aid, which has been delayed by the federal government shutdown
The rippling impacts of the federal government shutdown, which started on Oct. 1, are expected to become a local tsunami of lost food benefits this week as 43,000 Sonoma County recipients of CalFresh and SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) vouchers will not receive their November allotments.
This total includes 3,715 Sebastopol and west county recipients but does not include several thousand more people that also suffer from “food insecurity” but are not registered, including a concerning number of shut-in elderly. These numbers are based on state and federal databases used by local governments and other food support organizations.
Local food banks, church food pantries, other nonprofits and county government offices are all scrambling to meet the emergency need to feed the thousands of families and households dependent on federal food programs at a time when grocery prices have never been higher.
To make this crisis even more bleak is the pending loss of federal healthcare insurance benefits provided under Obamacare for many of these same households.
Calls to helplines at the Redwood Empire Food Bank (REFB) and its 170 community-based outlets are “going bonkers” this week ahead of the Nov. 1 SNAP and CalFresh shutdowns, one local food bank leader told the Sebastopol Times.
“We are all trying to mobilize and support our food distributors and community groups,” said Katie Greaves of the county’s Department of Human Services. “We’re trying to arrange referrals and placement for folks anticipating the impacts.”
She said her department is looking over a series of potential contingency plans in the midst of the uncertain days of the continuing federal government shutdown.
“The impact already has been pretty incredible,” said Allison Goodwin, executive director of the Redwood Empire Food Bank (REFB). “We’ve seen a 17 percent increase (in food pickups and requests.) We’ve already doubled and quadrupled some of our food orders for this week.”
REFB buys truckloads of perishable and nonperishable food from regional wholesalers for distribution to local families and for its community partner distribution centers.
Both Goodwin and Greaves told the Sebastopol Times the current emergency responses will likely not be enough to replace all the CalFresh and SNAP funds now being lost due to the federal government shutdown.
Gov. Gavin Newsom expedited a release of $80 million this week to supplement local food bank needs across all 58 counties, but most eyes locally are now focused on any possible action by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors.
Earlier this week, the county supervisors of Napa County declared a “food emergency” and approved spending of up to $1 million to distribute “food cards” to income-eligible people.
Sonoma County is considering doing something similar. Fifth District Supervisor Lynda Hopkins told the Sebastopol Times, “We’ll have an agenda item on Tuesday to consider supporting REFB. Vice Chair Hermosillo and I will be asking for up to $1 million in emergency funding to be used as needed, based on increased demand.”
The amount of money needed to replace the monthly federal SNAP assistance to 43,000 county residents is a big number. On average, each SNAP recipient receives a $300 monthly food voucher in the form of an EBT debit card account. That amounts to $12.9 million monthly
At the Sebastopol Inter-Church Food Pantry, located on the grounds of Sebastopol’s St. Stephens Episcopal Church at 500 Robinson Road, volunteers and food recipients this week were seeing some new faces as well as some anxious “regulars” who were trying to make extra pickups.
The food pantry, which serves Sebastopol, Graton and Occidental, is open Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 10 am to 12 noon. People seeking food supplies are asked to call during those times at (707) 823-2483 to schedule a food pickup. Pickups are limited to once a month per recipient. The pantry is operated by volunteers from St. Stephens, the Community Church of Sebastopol, Sebastopol Methodist Church and others. The pantry accepts non-perishable food donations during regular operation hours or by special arrangement.
“People typically come once a month,” said volunteer Karna Dawson during a shift this week. “We’ve had two people come off-cycle today, so we gave them a little food to hold them over.”
She said the pending loss of SNAP benefits has impacted the pantry. “Many people are calling and saying they’ve lost their benefits. We had three or four new families just today. We’re getting quite a few calls. People are calling who said they haven’t been here for a long time.”
St. Stephen’s rector, Christy Laborda Harris, said her congregation will have a food donation table at the Halloween Night event in Sebastopol’s Ives Park (4 to 8 p.m.) being sponsored by the local Kiwanis Club. “We’ll be doing other times and locations soon,” said Harris.
Other food supplement sources in Sebastopol and west county include other churches, local schools, the Sebastopol Area Senior Center and special programs by the Ceres Community Project and Forestville’s Food for Thought, which provides meals for people living with serious medical conditions.
Emily Topai, program assistant at the Sebastopol Area Senior Center, said “I know some seniors in the community who are worried and scared, and there is a sense of anxiety.”
She mentioned the extra transportation challenge for many local seniors to get to local food distribution programs.
Currently the countywide Meals on Wheels program operated by the Council on Aging has a waiting list of 190 unserved shut-in seniors, according to COA’s Denise Johnson. “At this time, the outlook remains uncertain as we await federal decisions regarding potential cuts to nutrition funding,” she said. “Requests keep going up, with three to six month waits before seniors receive meals, and we know other food programs are also experiencing very high demands.”
The Council on Aging also operates a weekly “community table” luncheon every Wednesday for residents of the Burbank Heights & Orchard development, reservations required.
Park Side and Brook Haven schools of the Sebastopol Unified School District (SUSD) provide daily meals to all students under the state’s Universal Meals Program. Income eligibility is not required, and SUSD superintendent Sara Gramm said the schools are serving about 12,000 meals a month.
“We’re not hearing any increased needs right now,” said Gramm, “but that may be because we are offering such a significant buffer against food insecurity already. Some of our students are getting two nutritional meals a day.”
The Redwood Empire Food Bank holds food giveaways at several locations in Sebastopol. At St. Sebastian’s Catholic Church on Covert Lane, REFB does a “Groceries to Go” food pickup every Thursday, from 4 pm to 5 pm, and on the second Wednesday of the month from 9:30 am to 10:30 am. (See the full list of “Grocery to Go” and “Senior Basket” programs here.)
Yesterday afternoon, dozens of people in need of food lined up to choose their groceries from long tables laid out with vegetables, rice and non-perishable items. Gloved volunteers bagged up the food for them.
“When they come in through the line, they can say “yes” or “no, thanks” if they don’t want to take something. That way we’re not wasting any food,” said Program Coordinator Juana Renovato, who has worked for REFB for 21 years.
Renovato said they’d seen about a 30% increase in people coming to that particular location over the last few weeks. “Previously at this location, we served 100 families. Last week, we served 133.” She hadn’t tallied up the count for yesterday (people were still shopping). “But it’s increasing a big number. That’s what I’ve been hearing from all the sites,” she said.
Renovato explained how the process works. For Groceries to Go, people do not have to show identification or any proof that they are eligible for food aid. For the Senior Basket, they have to show identification only to prove their age.
“When they come in, we’re not asking questions,” she said.
Shoppers sign in, and if they don’t already have one, they’re given a small plastic barcode card that has a phone number and website that lists all the pick-up locations.
“Participants are allowed to pick up food twice a week,” Renovato said.
“We are anticipating people relying on us more, and more often, going forward,” said REFB’s Goodwin.
For people wishing to help with the increased needs, Goodwin said the most impactful support is cash donations. “We buy food by truckloads. We (also) welcome food donations that can be dropped at any of our 130 local partner locations.”
The large regional food bank operation is supported year-round by a large volunteer force at its distribution warehouses near the Sonoma County Airport.
“With the changing conditions, our volunteer needs will also change,” Goodwin said.
Even before the crisis caused by the federal government shutdown, Goodwin said local programs already were responding to earlier federal budget cuts in April to two other food assistance programs. Those cuts reduced access to milk, egg and protein food sources and amounted to a 20 percent cut in the regional food bank’s federal support.
And now comes the annual Holiday Season appeal campaign and increased wintertime needs for feeding local families. “Because of the earlier cuts,” said Goodwin, “we were already in an urgency status.”
With the reduced federal support—temporary or otherwise—and the annual wintertime needs, Katie Greaves at DHS said the community’s response needs to be “an all of the above” action. “I believe our county and other governments need to continue to provide the social safety net for our families in need, but know that it’s never enough. November is all about food, and we definitely turn a lot of our attention to more donations, gifts and ways to help serve our special populations like foster children and others.”
A Food Distribution System Assessment in 2024 by the County of Sonoma found that 17.3 percent of county households with children faced ongoing “food insecurity.” The study also found that 10 percent of seniors face food insecurity and that the region’s high cost of living, transportation issues and homeless population contributed to the problem. The study recommended that the county and local charities work together to share best practices and better respond to community needs.
“Those conversations haven’t started yet,” said Goodwin of the Redwood Regional Food Bank. “We go to lots of meetings all the time, but they don’t feed more people.”
She endorsed a “community-wide response to the current food insecurity crisis caused by the CalFresh program cuts, while also calling for longer term efforts to keep finding enough food and funds to serve all the many unique needs of Sonoma County’s families and individuals.”
FIND FOOD: A directory of local food distribution sites is available at the Redwood Empire Food Bank website (getfood.refb.org).
VOLUNTEER: Find out about individual and group volunteer opportunities with Redwood Empire Food Bank. If you’d like to volunteer with the Sebastopol Inter-Church Food Pantry, call St. Stephens Episcopal Church at (707) 823-3281.
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