LOS ANGELES — Buying basic groceries comes as a financial challenge for CalFresh recipient Sylvia Baruch.
To make ends meet, Baruch said she needs to make calculated choices.
“Especially, the produce. It has gone up. I mean, you have to pick and choose the items that you need the most,” she said.
Baruch is one of 43,000 low-income households that not only rely on CalFresh benefits but also the CalFresh Fruit and Vegetable EBT Pilot Project that provides an additional $60 in monthly rebates for $60 spent on fresh produce.
She said the incentive helped her bring more to her table for the last six months.
“Right now, my husband’s the only income coming in, so he’s feeling it a little bit and this helps him a lot. I have cooked meals at home for him when he gets home from work and this helps me a lot to be able to choose different meals that I can make,” she said.
But this will be Baruch’s last grocery run with the extra monthly rebate.
Because of its popularity, funding for the project ended mid-April. According to the California Association of Food Banks, 21% of households reported experiencing food insecurity.
Now, District 24 Assemblymember Alex Lee is advocating for $30 million in state funding to keep it available for another year.
“I know that keeping fresh produce and nutrition for low-income families is a priority of the legislature and of California,” Lee said. “In the scale of a $25 trillion budget, $30 million, yes it’s a lot of money, but it’s a real big impact that goes a long way and it’s for one of those programs that have proven to be successful.”
Mother’s Nutritional Center primarily serves WIC and CalFresh recipients, but is also open to the public throughout SoCal.
President Richard Flores said staff helped customers understand and sign up for the program. Now he’s hoping to see rebates make a return.
“The good thing is and the great thing is that it was a success,” Flores said. “Now, it’s up to the politicians, the lobbyists and Gov. Newsom to sign this and extend the budget to allow this to happen.”
Gov. Newsom is expected to release changes to the proposed 2024-2025 state budget in May.
In the meantime, Baruch said she’ll have to make do with her last $60 rebate.
“Now, I’m going to have to use cash money so I can make ends meet and unfortunately, I am not working right now,” she said. “There’s going to be cuts that I’m going to have to do.”