Everyone has given you great advice about getting diapers, but I also wanted to mention - if you're tight on food budget because of spending so much on diapers, you might qualify for more CalFresh benefits than you're currently receiving. When they calculated your benefits, did you make sure to report all your medical expenses related to your daughter's condition? These are deductible for CalFresh purposes and can increase your benefit amount. When it's time for your next SAR7 or recertification, bring documentation of all medical expenses (including travel to medical appointments, special dietary needs, prescriptions, etc.) and make sure your eligibility worker counts them as deductions. This won't help with diapers directly but might give you more food benefits to offset some of your other costs. Also, don't forget to check with her medical specialists - sometimes they have access to foundation grants specifically for families in situations like yours.

my church does diaper drive every month maybe check local churches?? they might have programs

ALSO another thing they dont tell u is that u HAVE TO activate the card within 30 days of getting it or they can deactivate it!!! happened to my cousin last year and was HUGE headache to fix. the activate number is on sticker on card

Just to prevent panic: You don't have to activate P-EBT cards within 30 days of receiving them. The cards remain valid for one year after issuance. You should activate them when you receive them, but there's no 30-day deactivation policy. What can happen is if you report a card lost/stolen and then find the original, the original will be deactivated 30 days after reporting it lost. The confusion might be from the regular EBT card policy, which does require contact with the card within 365 days to keep it active. P-EBT follows different rules.

UPDATE: I was able to get through to my worker using that Claimyr service and you were all right - the July 23 date was my recertification deadline, not a payment date. The worker let me complete the recertification over the phone and said my benefits should continue without interruption! She also explained that the emergency allotments ended in 2023 and told me about some local food banks I can use if needed. Thank you all so much for your help!

I see this happen ALL THE TIME. The notices can be confusing. For everyone reading, here's a quick guide: - Regular benefits: Issued between 1st-10th based on case number - SAR7: Due twice a year (6-month intervals) - Recertification: Once per year - Income changes: Must report within 10 days if you go over your Income Reporting Threshold (IRT) The COVID emergency allotments gave everyone the maximum benefit for their household size regardless of income, but that ended in February 2023. Many people are still adjusting to the lower benefit amounts.

UPDATE: I checked my BenefitsCal messages and there was a notice about the wildfire emergency allotment! It was dated yesterday even though the money came in last night. Says it's a one-time payment for households in the affected areas. So looks like we're good to use it! Thanks everyone for your help figuring this out.

I called my caseworker and finally got through! She confirmed it's disaster assistance and is 100% ours to keep. NOT an error. Anyone in the affected zip codes should have gotten it automatically. If you didn't get it but think you should have, you need to call and request it specifically - mention "wildfire emergency allotment" and they'll check your eligibility. So relieved!

UPDATE: Called my county worker this morning and they confirmed there's been a bunch of reports about the EBT system showing phantom PIN changes from 11/30! Apparently it was a system update that incorrectly displayed as PIN changes to users. My benefits were deposited normally today and I can access them with my PIN. So relieved!!! Still glad I changed my PIN just to be safe though. Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions!

Great news! For anyone reading this later - always better to be safe than sorry with EBT security! I always change my PIN every few months just to be extra careful with my foodstamps.