For your immediate food needs while waiting for this to be resolved, please contact your local food bank. You can find the nearest one by texting your zip code to 898-211. Many food banks have emergency provisions specifically for situations like yours where CalFresh benefits are temporarily unavailable. Also, check if your children's school offers free meal programs that might help in the interim.

Just to follow up - once you get your new card, I strongly recommend enabling account alerts. You can set up text or email notifications for all transactions, low balance alerts, and even deposit notifications. This way you'll know immediately if there's suspicious activity in the future. You can set this up through the EBT cardholder portal or by calling customer service.

P-EBT (Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer) and CalFresh are different programs, though they both provide food benefits on EBT cards. P-EBT was initially created during the COVID pandemic and has been extended for the 2024-2025 school year. It provides food benefits to families with children who would receive free or reduced-price school meals. \n\nCalFresh is California's ongoing food assistance program (formerly known as food stamps) for low-income individuals and families.\n\nSo the card you received is specifically for P-EBT benefits, not regular CalFresh, even though they look similar. You can use both types of benefits at the same stores to buy eligible food items.

Ohhh that makes so much more sense! Thank you for explaining the difference. I was wondering why we got this random card when we haven't applied for CalFresh.

Thanks everyone for clearing this up! Sounds like my neighbor definitely got confused between the regular COLA increase and something COVID-related. I'll let her know so she doesn't keep spreading incorrect info. Even a small increase will help though - groceries have gotten so expensive this year.

Good idea to correct the misinformation. And you're right - even small increases help with today's food prices. If your circumstances have changed significantly (income decrease, new household member, higher housing costs), you can always report those changes to potentially increase your benefits beyond just the COLA adjustment.

EVERYBODY need to kno that worker lied to u!!!!! benefits CAN be replaced!!! my cosin got hers back after 6 weeks so dont let them tell u no!!!!!!

One more critical thing everyone should know: starting in March 2025, California implemented a new verification process for suspicious EBT transactions. If a transaction occurs far from your home ZIP code OR is unusually large, you should get a text message asking you to confirm it's legitimate. If you haven't set up your mobile number for these alerts, log into your BenefitsCal account and update your contact preferences immediately. Make sure to select "Fraud Alerts" in the notifications section. This won't stop all theft, but it can prevent large-scale draining of benefits if you respond quickly to deny suspicious transactions.

I don't understand why they're replacing benefits on the cash side. That doesn't seem right to me. CalFresh and CalWORKs are totally different programs with different funding sources. Are you sure you weren't already getting cash benefits and just didn't realize it? You might want to double-check your eligibility letter to make sure you understand what benefits you're approved for. Also, not filing a police report was definitely a mistake. They usually require that for any theft claims. You got lucky they replaced it at all without one.

Hey, just wanted to follow up - were you able to use the cash benefits okay? Did anyone give you trouble at the store? I'm curious because my mom just had the same thing happen and she's worried stores won't accept it.