Will CalFresh give extra emergency allotments this month? Confused about 2025 benefit amounts
I heard from my neighbor that CalFresh might be giving extra benefits this month because of the recent floods in Northern California. My regular deposit just hit my EBT card yesterday but it was the same amount as usual ($387 for my household of 2). Does anyone know if there will be additional emergency allotments later this month? I really need the extra help with food prices still being so high. When I tried calling the county office, I just got a recording saying wait times are over 3 hours! Has anyone received extra CalFresh benefits yet this month?
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Yara Nassar
same issue here! i got my regular amount too and was hoping for extra. prices at grocery store are INSANE right now!!!
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Connor O'Neill
•Right?? Even the "cheap" stores are getting ridiculous. My regular amount barely lasts 3 weeks anymore.
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Keisha Robinson
The emergency allotments were a special program during COVID that ended in March 2023. CalFresh doesn't automatically provide extra benefits during local disasters like floods anymore. However, if you've been personally affected by the floods (evacuated, lost food due to power outages, etc.), you can apply for disaster replacement benefits within 10 days of the loss. You'll need to submit a form and possibly provide documentation of your losses. What your neighbor might be referring to is the Disaster CalFresh program, but that only gets activated when there's a federally declared major disaster and specific counties are approved for individual assistance. As of now, I haven't seen any announcement about D-CalFresh being activated for the recent floods.
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GalaxyGuardian
•omg thank u for explaining this so clearly! i was sooo confused bc my sister kept saying we'd get extra but i didn't believe her lol
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Paolo Ricci
They NEVER tell us anything!!! I lost $200 worth of food from my refrigerator when power went out for 3 days during storm and my worker keeps giving me different answers every time I call. First they said fill out replacement form, then they said I needed receipts (who keeps grocery receipts??), then different worker said I needed to submit photos of spoiled food BEFORE I threw it out. How would I know that??? The system is DESIGNED to make us fail!!!!
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Amina Toure
•You can still request food replacement without receipts or photos. The county is supposed to provide you with form CF 303 "Request for Replacement of Food Purchased with CalFresh Benefits." You sign under penalty of perjury that you lost food due to a household misfortune. For a power outage, try to get documentation from your utility company showing the outage dates for your address. The replacement amount should be for the actual value of food lost, up to your monthly benefit amount.
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Oliver Zimmermann
I've been dealing with this same issue and kept getting disconnected when calling the CalFresh office. I finally used this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me through to a real person in about 20 minutes instead of waiting for hours. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/eZ19FHRETv8?si=_CXnXqNXbLl26WB8 The worker confirmed there's no county-wide emergency allotment, but helped me submit the replacement form for the food I lost during the power outage. Might be worth trying if you can't get through on the regular line.
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Connor O'Neill
•Thanks for this! I'll check it out. Did they help you immediately or did you still have to wait for the replacement benefits?
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Oliver Zimmermann
•They processed my request while I was on the phone. Said replacement benefits should appear on my EBT card within 10 days. Still waiting but at least I have a case number now.
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Natasha Volkova
My cousin works for social services and she told me that sometimes they do give extra benefits but you have to ask for them specifically. It's called "supplemental benefits" I think? Or maybe it was "expedited"? Something like that. You have to tell them you have special circumstances. I'm not 100% sure though because my cousin works for CalWORKs not CalFresh but I think they're connected somehow.
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Keisha Robinson
•You might be mixing up a few different programs. "Expedited Services" is when they rush your initial application if you have very low income/resources. "Supplemental benefits" isn't a formal CalFresh term. There are specific situations where you can request additional help like the disaster replacement we discussed above, or if your income suddenly decreases, you can report that mid-certification to potentially get increased benefits. But there's no general "extra benefits" program you can just request without a qualifying event or change in circumstances.
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Connor O'Neill
Thank you all for the information! It sounds like there won't be automatic extra benefits, which is disappointing. I wasn't directly affected by the floods but was hoping for some extra help. I'm going to try using Claimyr to get through to my worker because I need to ask about updating my rent amount anyway - it went up last month and I forgot to report it on my SAR7. Might help increase my regular benefit amount at least.
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Amina Toure
•That's a good plan. Reporting your increased rent could definitely help with your regular benefit calculation. CalFresh uses housing costs as a deduction when determining benefits. If you have any utility bills that aren't covered in your rent, make sure to report those too, as you might qualify for a higher utility allowance (SUA or LUA).
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