CalFresh benefits missing and county office closed for Labor Day weekend - what to do?

same here in riverside county. my ebt card empty too. they never warned anyone about system being down!!!

I'm having the same problem in LA County. Benefits were supposed to load on the 1st (my usual date) but nothing came through. I called the state EBT customer service (not the county) at 877-328-9677 and they confirmed it's a statewide system issue affecting multiple counties, especially in Southern California. They said benefits should be available by Tuesday at the latest, but that doesn't help for the holiday weekend.

This issue happens sometimes during system updates. If you're in an emergency situation, you can try these steps: 1. Call 211 - they can direct you to emergency food resources 2. Visit a local food bank - most are open on Saturdays 3. If you have less than $100 in your bank account, you might qualify for emergency aid even with the systems down For what it's worth, when this happened last year, benefits were loaded early Monday morning even though the offices were closed for the holiday. They can process the payments even when the customer service systems are down.

Have you tried using Claimyr to reach someone? When the regular phone lines give you the runaround, they can often get you through to a real person. I was in a similar situation a few months ago and used their service at claimyr.com - they got me through to an actual caseworker even when the main line said systems were down. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/eZ19FHRETv8?si=_CXnXqNXbLl26WB8 that shows how it works. In my case, the worker was able to process an emergency benefit load even though the main systems were having issues.

im in san diego county an my benefits came thru normal yesterday so maybe its just certain counties? did u check ur balance online sometimez the card dont work but the money is actually there

This sounds like the scheduled system maintenance they announced two weeks ago. There was a notice on BenefitsCal.com about it, but they didn't make it very obvious. I remember it said something about a 72-hour upgrade affecting transaction processing but that benefits would be restored by Tuesday, September 7th. I know that doesn't help your immediate situation, but at least it confirms that it's a planned issue and your benefits aren't permanently affected. For immediate help, you should contact your local food bank. Most have emergency provisions for exactly this situation. In San Bernardino, I believe you can contact Feeding America Riverside|San Bernardino at (951) 359-4757 - they usually have weekend hours and emergency distribution.

This happened to me back in June!!! I had to go to a food bank for the weekend. Which was humiliating because I already get CalFresh but the volunteers were nice. The most frustrating part is that when benefits finally came back Tuesday, they acted like it was no big deal. Like we're just supposed to magically find food for 4 days with no warning???

Quick update for everyone in this thread - I just got a text alert from the CalFresh office stating benefits delayed by the system outage will be deposited by Monday 9am, even though offices are closed for Labor Day. They're prioritizing getting benefits loaded before resolving other systems issues. Hope this helps ease some stress for the weekend.