Can my child qualify for CalFresh benefits right before starting pre-school?

I think ur friend might be talking about the Summer EBT program, not "sunbucks" lol. Its a new program that gives extra food benefits during summer months to families with school-aged kids. But I'm pretty sure your kid needs to be already IN school to qualify, not just enrolled for future attendance. My daughter had to be already participating in free/reduced lunch program to get it.

The program your friend was referring to is likely Summer EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer), which provides food benefits to eligible children during summer months when school meals aren't available. For 2025, children must be enrolled in free or reduced-price school meals during the regular school year to be eligible for Summer EBT. Since your child hasn't actually started pre-school yet, he wouldn't qualify for Summer EBT this summer. He would need to: 1. Start attending school 2. Be enrolled in the free/reduced meal program at school 3. Then he could potentially qualify for Summer EBT next summer (2026) With your household income of $2,700/month for a family of 3, you likely qualify for regular CalFresh benefits though! Have you applied for those?

On top of what everyone else said about Summer EBT, you should also check if you qualify for WIC since your child is under 5! With your income of $2700 for a family of 3, you'd definitely qualify. WIC gives you funds specifically for healthy foods for young children, pregnant women, and new mothers. My toddler gets milk, fruits, veggies, and cereal through it, and it really helps supplement our CalFresh.

Seeing a lot of good advice here already about Summer EBT, but wanted to mention that if you're having trouble contacting the CalFresh office to ask about any of this, I found a service called Claimyr that can really help. It gets you through to an actual CalFresh worker without waiting on hold for hours. Check out their website at claimyr.com - they even have a demo video at https://youtu.be/eZ19FHRETv8?si=_CXnXqNXbLl26WB8 that shows how it works. I used it last month when I needed to add my newborn to my case and couldn't get through on the regular line.

JUST SO YOU KNOW - the whole system is a MESS! My kids qualified for Summer EBT last year and we NEVER received the card until October!!! By then summer was OVER and school had already started! Then when I called they said I could still use it but what good is SUMMER ebt in OCTOBER??!! The whole program is a joke if you ask me. Don't count on it.

not directly related to ur Summer EBT question but since ur sons starting pre-school soon make sure u report the change to CalFresh when it happens! my benefits went down when my daughter started school cuz they counted the free lunch as income or something weird like that. just a heads up

To update everyone here, I checked with my supervisor (I work at a community resource center) about the 2025 Summer EBT program in California, and there are some important details to know: 1. Children must be enrolled in free/reduced meals during the regular school year 2. For pre-K students, they need to be in a school that participates in the National School Lunch Program 3. Benefits are typically $120 per eligible child for the summer 4. Applications are not required - eligible families get the benefits automatically So @OP, once your son starts pre-school, check if his school participates in the national lunch program, and if so, get him enrolled in free/reduced meals. Then he should automatically receive Summer EBT next summer.