This story originally appeared in the Summer 2026 edition of At the Table, the Food Bank’s newsletter.
In Barbara’s household, food and family go hand in hand. Whether it’s bringing a dish to family gatherings, or sitting down at home for a shared meal, food is about more than nourishment – it’s a way to show love.
But when her father, who lives with the family, had to give up his night shift job due to worsening arthritis, money got tight, especially with Barbara already at home with her youngest child.
That’s when Barbara met her “CalFresh angel.”
CalFresh, known nationally as SNAP, provides families with a monthly benefit to help stretch their food budgets. But the program’s complex requirements make it difficult to apply. Additionally, the H.R. 1 federal budget bill, passed last summer, cut SNAP funding by $200 billion, making it even harder for families to access this lifeline.
Barbara applied for CalFresh three years earlier, but was cut off after only a month due to its complicated reporting requirements. Since then, she’d been shopping day-to-day as her budget allowed, not always knowing if her family of five would have enough food for the rest of the month.
When she met Jonathan, a member of the Food Bank CalFresh Outreach Team who was tabling outside of her local grocery store, Barbara was prepared for disappointment again. But with help from the Food Bank and Jonathan, Barbara
successfully reapplied and kept her benefits.
“I’m so grateful for him,” Barbara says. “He’s like a CalFresh angel.”
Today, grocery shopping is no longer a daily worry. With her CalFresh benefits, Barbara is able to plan ahead, buy in bulk, and make her budget stretch even further to feed her family!
“It feels good to put food in the cart and know it’s going to be enough for two weeks or a month,” she says.
Neighbors losing critical support
This year, you’ve helped our CalFresh Outreach Team make over 150 stories like Barbara’s possible – but many more neighbors are being cut off from these much-needed benefits!
Last summer’s H.R. 1 budget bill cut $200 billion from SNAP, and created new eligibility restrictions. In Contra Costa and Solano Counties, more than 15,000 neighbors will be impacted, including seniors (aged 55 to 64), parents of children over 14, neighbors experiencing homelessness, and humanitarian immigrants.
Our CalFresh Outreach Team is working hard to help neighbors keep their benefits, but these cuts will create an incredible hunger gap in our community. Your support will help us ensure families can continue to get the food they need.