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my sister works at sams club and she says they even have a sign in the bakery listing which items can be bought with ebt. defintely the regular sheet cakes are fine. ice cream cakes too! just make sure its not something from the cafe area since those are prepared foods
ice cream cakes count?? thats awesome, my kids b-day is next month and he wants an ice cream cake so bad!!
Update: My mom got the cake yesterday with no problems! It was $26.99 and she used her EBT card without any issues. They did make her pay separately for the candles and a small decoration we added. Thanks everyone for your help! 🎂
That's great! Hope your daughter has a wonderful birthday! 🎉
So glad it worked out smoothly! And happy 8th birthday to Sophia! 🎂 It's really nice that your mom was able to help make her day special. Thanks for updating us - it'll definitely help other parents who have the same question in the future!
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This is such a comprehensive thread! I'm a case worker at one of the county offices and I just want to confirm that the advice here is spot on. Yes, you absolutely can update your EBT card address through customer service when getting a replacement, but that ONLY changes where the physical card gets mailed - it doesn't update your actual CalFresh case record. You still need to contact your county office separately to update your case address or you'll miss important notices. Also wanted to add that if you're ever in a real food emergency while waiting for your replacement card, you can ask your county worker about emergency food assistance - we have options for situations like this that can provide temporary help. Great job everyone helping each other navigate the system!
Thank you so much for confirming all of this from the county worker perspective! It's really reassuring to hear that all the advice in this thread is accurate. I didn't know about the emergency food assistance option - that's such valuable information for anyone in a desperate situation. It's great to see someone who actually works in the system taking time to help people understand how things work. This kind of insider knowledge can make such a huge difference when people are stressed and trying to figure out what to do!
This thread is absolutely incredible! As someone who's been navigating CalFresh for a while now, I wish I had found information this clear and detailed when I first started. The fact that you have both community members sharing real experiences AND an actual county case worker confirming everything is just amazing. I'm definitely saving this for future reference and sharing it with friends who are on CalFresh. The breakdown of EBT customer service vs county office systems, the expedited shipping option, the Claimyr service recommendation, emergency food assistance info - this is like a complete survival guide! Thank you everyone for taking the time to share your knowledge and help each other out. This is exactly what community support should look like!
I totally agree! This thread has become such an amazing resource. It's so refreshing to see a community where people actually take the time to share detailed, helpful advice based on real experiences. And having Teresa confirm everything from the county worker side just makes it even more valuable. I'm new to CalFresh myself and was honestly pretty intimidated by all the different systems and processes, but reading through everyone's experiences here makes it feel so much more manageable. Definitely bookmarking this too - it's like having a cheat sheet for navigating the whole system!
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Since you're in Alameda County, you should also check with Bay Area Community Services (BACS). They offer homelessness prevention services and might be able to provide emergency funds or connect you with resources before you reach the eviction point. Also, if you're facing potential eviction, contact Centro Legal de la Raza or Eviction Defense Center ASAP - they provide free legal help for tenants and can sometimes help negotiate payment plans with landlords. As others mentioned, while following up on your CalFresh application is important, it won't directly solve your housing issue since those benefits are specifically for food. That said, getting those food benefits approved will free up whatever money you do have for rent.
UPDATE: Called 211 and they referred me to Season of Sharing. Filled out their application yesterday and they said they'll get back to me within 3 days. Also contacted my landlord and explained the situation - surprisingly he was understanding and said as long as I can pay at least half the rent by the due date, he'll give me until the 15th for the rest. I also checked my CalFresh application status online and it says they're missing income verification from me. Going to upload my pay stubs today. Thanks everyone for the help and suggestions!
Great news on multiple fronts! That's exactly why checking your application status is so important - those missing documents could have delayed your benefits for weeks more. Make sure you upload clear photos of ALL pages of your pay stubs, including the year-to-date totals. That's a common reason they reject verification documents. And remember to follow up in 2-3 business days if you don't see your application status change after uploading.
That's such a relief! Glad your landlord is being reasonable about it. Season of Sharing is really good about getting back to people quickly. Just make sure when you upload those pay stubs that you also include any documentation about losing your second job - like a termination letter or final paycheck stub. That'll help explain why your current income is lower than what you originally reported. Fingers crossed everything works out for you!
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Update: My benefits just loaded! About 36 hours late but they're finally there. Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions during my mini-panic. I've signed up for text alerts now so hopefully I'll be notified if this happens again.
So glad everything worked out! This is exactly why I love this community - everyone jumps in to help when someone is stressed about their benefits. I've been through similar scares and it's awful when you're trying to plan meals for your family. For future reference, I've found that system delays like this tend to happen around the same time each year when they do maintenance or upgrades. Definitely keep those text alerts active - they've saved me from panicking multiple times. Hope your grocery shopping went well!
Andre Laurent
Update: The California Department of Social Services just announced they're releasing a fix for the EBT Edge app freeze/unfreeze function on March 15, 2025. In the meantime, they advise all users experiencing this issue to call the EBT Customer Service line directly. Just wanted to share this info in case others are facing the same problem!
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Carmen Ortiz
•Thank you for the update! Where did you see this announcement? I want to follow their updates more closely now that I know these issues can happen.
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Andre Laurent
•It was posted on the CDSS Twitter account and also on the BenefitsCal login page as a system alert. They've been better about communicating these technical issues since the big outage last November.
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Hunter Brighton
Had the exact same problem last week! So frustrating when you need your benefits urgently. The EBT customer service line (1-877-328-9677) is definitely the way to go - they had me unfrozen in about 5 minutes once I got through to someone. Just make sure you have your card number, date of birth, and last 4 digits of your SSN ready. They told me the app freeze feature has been buggy since the February update and they're getting lots of calls about it. Glad to hear from the other comments that a fix is coming soon!
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