The government shutdown is now the second-longest in history, and as of November 1, residents who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits will not receive them.
According to a press release from Gavin Newsom’s office, this will be the first time that SNAP will not be available to the 5.5 million residents who receive it, and it does not have to be that way. Congress appropriated $6 billion to the U.S Department of Agriculture as contingency funds for SNAP. Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta are suing the Trump Administration for withholding the funds.
“November SNAP benefits can and must be provided, even with the government shutdown. USDA not only has authority to use contingency funds, it has a legal duty to spend all available dollars to fund SNAP benefits,” said Bonta in the press release.
Understanding the impact this will have on Kern County residents and their ability to purchase food, Community Action Partnership of Kern (CAPK) has launched a website with information on how many people will be impacted, and they will have several food distributions for those who receive SNAP. Residents must bring their CalFresh card with them to distributions to receive assistance. Federal workers can use the Cottonwood Commons Pantry at the food bank as long as they bring their federal ID.
According to the website, there are 104,640 CalFresh cases in Kern County, and 68,847 of those cases are in the greater Bakersfield area.
Kelly Lowery, the CAPK Food Bank Administrator, stated that they requested that the California National Guard provide assistance with the distributions taking place to support during the shutdown. They requested 150 and were approved for 50 from the National Guard, and the rest will be volunteers from California Volunteers. They will begin assisting the food bank on November 3.
Due to the extra volunteers, they will be able to host a food distribution at Kern County Fairgrounds, Monday through Friday, with the aim of serving 3,000 families each day, along with another location in the county to serve an additional 3,000 families Tuesday through Friday.
He explained that to make this work, they are using food that was meant to be distributed in December and using the CalFoods money they receive to make purchases for December. He explained that this will impact their work through April 2026 because the money they will use was supposed to be for purchasing food for their pantry. This will make them rely on donations for quarter one.
“So, we’re going to exhaust all of our money by the end of the year; that should have lasted us through April. So, that means that the food that would have been ordered in say, January, and February, and March isn’t going to be ordered,” said Lowery.
Lowery stated that the hard part about relying solely on donations from grocery stores is that one month, they can have plenty of resources, but then the next, they may only get one or two things, such as marshmallows and jalapenos.
“What goes out the back door to the food bank is often low volume, very volatile. There’s stuff that couldn’t sell, and so it’s hard to make balanced offerings for families in need out of marshmallows and jalapenos. So, that’s the reason why purchasing is so important, because it brings stability.
If the shutdown ends in early or mid-November, Lowery stated that it will not have a long impact on the 54 distributions they provide with partners across Kern County. If the shutdown lasts until December or January, however, it may impact how much food they can provide.
“You’re going to see an interruption to those distributions. You’re going to start seeing a few truckloads less,” said Lowery. “So, the amount of food that we’re able to provide is going to be reduced.”
Lowery has also launched a task force of several organizations, city personnel, elected officials, and other individuals to address the impact of the government shutdown. He explained that while it is a CAPK effort, others are helping, such as the Department of Human Services (DHS), providing data on CalFresh Cases in Kern County. The data from DHS can be found on the CAPK website, which focuses on addressing the shutdown.
In order to address food insecurity in Kern County, Lowery explained a three-step roadmap that he says is their way of feeding those in need.
“It’s about having enough resources, enough access points, and enough information. Those are the three things that we work [for] everyday. To try to get more resources, to develop more access points, and then to provide people more information about where those resources and access points are. That’s how we address food insecurity,” said Lowery.
He added that it takes 3.6 million pounds to give food to every food-insecure person in Kern County, and right now, the foodbank is providing a little over 2 million.
“It’s not enough yet, but it’s a significant amount,” said Lowery. “So, we’re trying our best to try and find more, and until we have enough, we’re trying to be strategic about where it goes.”
For strategy, he stated it comes down to looking where the need is, explaining that the zip code 93307 has 20,000 CalFresh cases and the next highest has 7,000.
“So, it would make sense then that if you looked at that, you would say we need more food distributions in that area,” said Lowery.
Jeffrey Marsh, the CAPK Food Bank Operations Manager, emphasized that food insecurity can impact anyone.
“Food insecurity doesn’t discriminate. I think sometimes we are so quick to judge, especially when you look at people that drive through our lines, and you’re like, man, that’s a really nice Mercedes, and you’re picking up food,” said Marsh, adding a point from Lowery that the average savings account has $500.
Marsh said it’s important to remember that you never know someone’s story.
“You don’t know if that person that’s driving that brand new Mercedes just lost their spouse that was their provider, or just lost their job, or are going through some other type of hardship. Food insecurity doesn’t discriminate; it is across all demographics of people,” Marsh.
CAPK is hosting a press conference on Wednesday morning at 10:00 a.m. to discuss their plan for the government shutdown. More information on their resources and locations of food distributions can be found here.
