The rippling impacts of the federal government shutdown, which started on Oct. 1, are expected to become a local tsunami of lost food benefits this week as 43,000 Sonoma County recipients of CalFresh and SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) vouchers will not receive their November allotments.
This total includes 3,715 Sebastopol and west county recipients but does not include several thousand more people that also suffer from “food insecurity” but are not registered, including a concerning number of shut-in elderly. These numbers are based on state and federal databases used by local governments and other food support organizations.
Local food banks, church food pantries, other nonprofits and county government offices are all scrambling to meet the emergency need to feed the thousands of families and households dependent on federal food programs at a time when grocery prices have never been higher…