Missing May 2025 CalFresh Emergency Allotment - Deposit Day Issues?
Is anyone else still waiting for their emergency supplemental CalFresh benefits today? The county worker told me May 15th would definitely be the deposit date for the extended emergency allotments, but my EBT card balance only shows my regular benefits from the beginning of the month. Nothing extra has been added. I called the EBT customer service line but gave up after being on hold for 45 minutes. Our household (me, husband, 2 kids) has been continuously eligible with no breaks in coverage, so we should definitely qualify for the supplemental benefits. The BenefitsCal website still shows our case as active with no pending issues. Every resource I've checked confirms today is supposed to be the deposit day for Sacramento County. Anyone else having this problem or know what might be going on? Do the deposits sometimes come in waves throughout the day?
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Ryan Vasquez
The regular emergency allotments for CalFresh actually ended back in April 2023. California isn't issuing those anymore as the federal public health emergency ended. Are you referring to the regular monthly benefits? Those should come on your normal issuance date based on the last digit of your case number. Or is this some new special payment for 2025 that I haven't heard about?
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Sarah Ali
•Wait, what? The worker I spoke with last week specifically said there was a new extended emergency allotment program starting this month for qualifying families. She said we'd get our regular benefits on our usual day (which we did on the 4th) plus this additional amount today. Did I completely misunderstand or did the worker give me wrong information??
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Avery Saint
I think there might be confusion about the new California Food Assistance Program supplement that was approved for 2025. It's not technically called "emergency allotments" but it is additional money similar to the pandemic EAs. The deposits started today but they're being released in phases based on case numbers. If your case number ends in 0-3, today is your day. If it ends in 4-6, it's tomorrow, and 7-9 is the day after. Check your case number and that might explain the delay.
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Sarah Ali
•Thank you SO much for this explanation! My case ends in 7 so I guess that means I won't see it until the 17th. I wish the worker had been clearer about this phased approach. I've been stressed all day thinking we wouldn't get the extra help we were counting on for groceries this month.
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Taylor Chen
the county dosent know what there doing half the time!! last month they told me i would get my calfresh on the 11th but it didnt come till the 14th!!! I havent got the extra benifits either its so frustrating when you plan your grocery budget around these dates and then the money isnt there. my kids r hungry and im tired of the county lying about wen money comes!!
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Avery Saint
•That's definitely frustrating. For regular monthly benefits, the issuance date should be consistent each month based on your case number (last digit determines your day between the 1st and 10th). But for this supplemental payment, they're using a different schedule. Did you check what your case number ends with? That will tell you which day to expect it.
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Keith Davidson
I got the supplement today, but I'm in Alameda County so the schedule might be different. One thing to try is calling the EBT customer service automated line instead of waiting to speak to someone. Sometimes the automated system will tell you if there's a pending deposit that hasn't hit your card yet. I just dial the number on the back of my EBT card and follow the prompts for balance information.
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Ezra Bates
•I tried the automated line but it only gave me my current balance - didn't say anything about pending deposits. This whole system is so frustrating...
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Ana Erdoğan
If you need to reach an actual caseworker about this, I'd recommend using Claimyr. I was having a similar issue last month and spent days trying to get through the regular phone lines. With Claimyr (claimyr.com), they called the county office for me and got me connected to a real person in under 20 minutes. They have a demo video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/eZ19FHRETv8?si=_CXnXqNXbLl26WB8. It saved me so much frustration and I actually got answers instead of just automated messages.
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Sarah Ali
•Thanks for the tip! I'll check that out if I don't see the deposit by my assigned day. At this point I just need confirmation that we're actually going to get this supplement. Our food budget is really tight and we've been counting on this extra help.
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Sophia Carson
•does that servic cost money? im already strapped for cash waiting on benefits
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Ezra Bates
I'm in Riverside county and haven't received anything extra either. Is this supplement automatically applied to everyone on CalFresh or do you have to qualify in some special way? I didn't get any notices about this.
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Ryan Vasquez
•According to what I've read, the new CFAP supplement is for households that meet certain criteria - your household income needs to be under 200% of the Federal Poverty Level, and you need to have at least one citizen or qualified immigrant in the household. If you already qualify for regular CalFresh, you most likely qualify for this supplement too. The notification process has been very inconsistent though - some counties sent notices, others didn't.
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Sarah Ali
UPDATE: Just called my county office again and finally got through! The worker confirmed that the supplement payment will come on the 17th for my case number ending in 7. She also said this supplement will be ongoing monthly for at least the rest of 2025, which is a huge relief for our family budget. Thanks everyone for your help figuring this out!
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Taylor Chen
•lucky you got thru!! ive been trying all day and cant get past the stupid robot voice!!
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Keith Davidson
•Thanks for updating us! That's good to know about the ongoing monthly supplements. The CalFresh program really needs to improve their communication about these changes - it would save everyone so much stress and confusion.
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