An Urgent Call to Action for Faith Communities
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits have not been funded for November. The resulting challenge is immediate and devastating. Families face an impossible choice, leaving children and vulnerable adults without guaranteed meals. This is a profound crisis of food security and human dignity in our communities. Plunging this many people into an immediate food crisis is a powerful call for faith-rooted compassion and action. It is a call to respond together in accordance with our shared faith values.
Here are three ways you can respond immediately.
Help People Find Food Resources Now
If you or someone you know is struggling to find food, please use these resources:
- Find Food by Location: Use the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano’s site to find local food pantries, mobile distributions, and soup kitchens near you:
- Monument Crisis Center: If you are in the Concord, CA, area, the Monument Crisis Center provides food distribution on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday mornings. Review their site for required registration documents and hours:
- Another Food Finder Resource: FoodFinder.us is another useful tool for finding food pantries nearby.
Print and distribute this downloadable flyer to get information to people who do not have access to this post. The Contra Costa County Employment and Human Services Department produced this flyer, which contains essential contact information.
Contra Costa County’s CalFresh Emergency Fund
Share this information:
The suspension of federal funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—also known as CalFresh locally—means that November benefits will be delayed or unavailable for over 107,000 Contra Costa residents.
To counter this emergency, the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors decided on Tuesday, November 3, to declare a local emergency and allocate up to $21 million from county reserves to support eligible households.
In relatively simple terms, this county-level plan establishes an emergency distribution program that utilizes food boxes and debit cards to provide immediate food aid.
Please read the full details below. Note: This was current information as of Tuesday, November 3. Please consult the County Department of Employment and Human Services for up-to-date information.
Act with Compassion: Mobilize Your Faith
To all faith communities—churches, mosques, temples, and centers of worship—now is the time to live out your highest moral principles. The spiritual and ethical mandate across all traditions is to feed the hungry and shelter the vulnerable.
We urge your leadership and congregations to mobilize immediate resources:
- Organize food drives,
- Raise emergency funds, and
- Volunteer your time to local food relief organizations.
It takes ALL of us to close the gap for our neighbors who are facing dire need.
Full Description of the County Emergency Food Program
Contra Costa County’s CalFresh Emergency Fund
Note: This was current information as of Tuesday, November 3. Please consult the County Department of Employment and Human Services for up-to-date information.
Due to the federal government shutdown, funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as CalFresh in California, has been suspended, resulting in delayed or unavailable November benefits for over 107,000 Contra Costa residents.
To counter this emergency, Contra Costa County is stepping in by declaring a local emergency and allocating up to $21 million from county reserves to purchase replacement funds for eligible households.
In relatively simple terms, this county-level plan establishes an emergency distribution program that utilizes food boxes and debit cards to provide immediate food aid.
How to Access the Emergency Assistance
The County’s plan includes two main ways to receive assistance: immediate food aid and replacement debit cards.
1. Immediate Food Boxes (Starting November 3, 2025)
The Employment & Human Services Department (EHSD) is purchasing 10,000 food boxes from the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano to provide immediate food assistance to 40,000 people for two weeks.
- What is it? Food boxes containing non-perishable items.
- When is it available? Distribution of these food boxes begins on November 3, 2025.
- How to access it? The food boxes will be distributed at EHSD locations.
2. Replacement Debit Cards (Starting Week of November 10, 2025)
The core of the $21 million program involves distributing temporary debit cards to help households buy food.
- Who is Eligible? Only households verified as being eligible for November CalFresh benefits will receive a card.
- What is the Card For? The debit card is designed to allow recipients to purchase food, with spending limited to grocery items.
- How Much Money is Loaded? The card will initially be loaded with the value of the first two weeks of November benefits. If the federal government has not resolved the shutdown, EHSD will remotely load the third and fourth weeks of benefits onto the card later.
- When to Access the Card? Distribution of the debit cards is scheduled to begin the week of November 10, 2025.
- Where to Go for Pickup? EHSD will open its four busiest lobbies for distribution, which will operate during extended hours:
- 1305 MacDonald Avenue, Richmond
- 151 Linus Pauling Drive, Hercules
- 400 Ellinwood Way, Pleasant Hill
- 4545 Delta Fair Boulevard, Antioch
- What to Bring for Pickup? Customers must bring their ID so EHSD staff can validate their identity and their eligibility for November CalFresh. If someone is not a current CalFresh recipient but needs food aid, EHSD staff will accept a new application.
- Special Populations: Different distribution processes will be implemented for certain vulnerable groups:
- Debit cards will be issued at WIC offices through a partnership with Contra Costa Health.
- Cards will be hand-delivered and/or mailed to current and former foster youth and IHSS (In-Home Supportive Services) consumers.
