San Joaquin County has made it clear that November CalFresh benefits will not be issued on the normal schedule due to the federal government shutdown cutting off the flow of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) dollars to the state.

That means no additional benefits will be loaded to EBT cards until funding is restored sometime after the shutdown ends.

Balances remaining on EBT cards can still be accessed.

There are 131,891 CalFresh recipients in San Joaquin County, or 65,903 households.

 San Joaquin County Human Services Agency (HSA) issues $25 million in CalFresh benefits monthly.

 “We are committed to providing support and resources to our residents during this unprecedented time,” said Chris Woods, Director of HSA.

 The Agency’s Food For You Program has initiated enhanced food purchases, including 28,000 pounds of emergency food boxes, to be distributed to the community through partner agencies for qualifying recipients.

People are also being referred to various community-based food banks for assistance.

Manteca-based Second Harvest of the Greater Valley helps supply nearly 100 community food banks throughout the Northern San Joaquin Valley.

“Our food bank continues to see a steady, high level of need as families prepare for potential SNAP benefit loss,” said Jennifer Mora, Second Harvest Director of Development and Communications.

“We’re focused on maintaining access to nutritious food to help meet the possible increased need if SNAP benefits are reduced or delayed.”

Second Harvest operates entirely through community donations and grants.”

The non-profit does not receive state or federal funding such as CalFoods or USDA support.

Mora noted that “ makes local partnerships and community support essential to keeping our shelves stocked and ensuring neighbors in need continue to have reliable access to nutritious food.”

Second Harvest is not among the food banks Gov. Gavin Newsom has said he’ll dispatch the National Giard to in a bid to provide additional manpower to move food supplies.

The Manteca operation has a large number of volunteers that assists it with sorting and processing food stuff.

Newsom also fast tracked up to $80 million to support food banks but it has not been made clear where, or how those funds will be dispersed and used.

There are 5.5 million out of 39.7 million Californians that receive SNAP benefits through CalFresh.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com