SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – Sometimes getting some help can make a world of difference.
“Once we get the EBT card, it takes a weight off of our shoulders,” Willie Shirley, who told ABC 10News he receives CalFresh benefits, said.
June 1st marks the start of new federal requirements for those in San Diego County and across the rest of California receiving CalFresh benefits.
“At least it's not a lot of money, but it's, it's enough to at least give me about a week or two,” Freeman Bolden, who also told ABC 10News he receives CalFresh benefits, said.
Nearly 100,000 people in the County could have the weight that Cal Fresh benefits relieve be put right back on their shoulders.
“I've been on CalFresh for years,” Shirley said. "It's been helping me get along and get across for years, and to hear that they're going to cut it out, it's just, it's just ridiculous and heartbreaking.”
The new work requirements for California food assistance follow the passage of federal House Resolution 1, a.k.a. the Big, Beautiful Bill.
Adults ages 18 to 64 who cannot demonstrate they are able to work will have to work 80 hours per month to qualify for food assistance.
"Many of them are vulnerable. There are veterans. They are homeless. There are parents with children that now will have to meet these new requirements,” Sam Duke from Feeding San Diego said. “So, we know that demand in food insecurity and our work will increase.”
Duke told ABC 10News the impacts from these CalFresh changes probably won’t be seen until next October.
“You may not lose your benefits today, but it will be potentially when you have to recertify within the next year for those benefits. And then, of course, anyone applying today and on will have to meet these new requirements,” Duke said.
New requirements pose a new challenge for some.
“You requiring a job for us to get EBT food stamps, that's heartbreaking. And that's a mountain that we got to get over,” Shirley said.
Others feel the new requirements aren’t as big of a mountain to climb.
“You got to work for your food. You got to work for your place to stay. You got to work for everything. It's about giving back to the community. I mean, a job is what you need to do to survive anyways,” Bolden said.
