When SNAP went dark, locals stepped up
During the first week of November, the countrywide Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, called CalFresh in California, withheld anywhere from $100 to $1,000 a month from millions of food insecure individuals.
“The faces of those recipients that rely on food security and nutrition programs — those are our neighbors,” Napa County Supervisor Belia Ramos, an American Canyon resident, said of the 10,700 CalFresh recipients who live in Napa County, with more than 2,000 in American Canyon.
Before SNAP was halted on Nov. 1, the Napa County Board of Supervisors pledged $1 million in grocery cards, to be distributed to all CalFresh recipients. The shutdown ended before the cards could be distributed.
But the lesson was learned, Ramos said. “We were ready to stand this up at a moment’s notice,” she told the Current. “To the extent that we are faced with this type of an emergency all over again, we’re ready to move.”
According to conversations with store managers, American Canyon’s two grocery giants, Walmart and Safeway, didn’t have plans for giveaways or discounts for CalFresh recipients, although Walmart is one of the top places CalFresh cash is spent.
The community rallies
While officials scrambled to get funds in place, in the seven days that SNAP was down, the bulk of the effort to keep American Canyon and surrounding communities fed was on residents.
“I’m so incredibly grateful to live in a community that is caring of its neighbors,” Ramos said. “People messaged me asking what they could do. People posted, ‘Message me and I’ll put food out on my doorstep.’”
The city’s Next Door pages and Facebook groups quickly turned into hubs for neighbor-to-neighbor food assistance, with some asking for help and others offering meals and fresh groceries.
Christina Kalyuzhnaya runs the local Buy Nothing group on Facebook. “People are trying to step up,” she said. The hardest goods to get cheap are fruits and vegetables, she said, and supporting her family of six on a $700 CalFresh budget means by the middle of the month, they’re running low.
One day, she said, “I couldn’t afford any fresh vegetables, and I was running out. I said, ‘Hey I’m running low. I was supposed to have something for salad and I don’t have anything. Someone literally came and dropped me off a couple bell peppers, a cucumber and some lettuce.”
At American Canyon’s food pantries, donations poured in. Harvest Baptist Church, which hosts a bi-monthly pantry, put bins out front for additional cans and bagged goods. “We had a client say she wanted to donate her [monthly] allotment to the bins,” said volunteer Patricia Bradley.
Grocery costs have risen 30% since 2020, meaning a four-person household might spend around $1,000 a month. EBT cards help, but for many, it’s still not enough — and it isn’t available to undocumented people.
“It’s hard regardless,” said Wendy Brown, who was shopping at the American Canyon Safeway in November. “Even with the amount they allow, it doesn’t seem like enough. And then once you make the income all that goes right back to food anyway.”
A neighbor gives back
One of the most remarkable local efforts came from a woman just over the border of American Canyon, in Hiddenbrook. Jackie Beatty, a mother of three, jumped into action when she heard SNAP would be cut.
“I was on SNAP benefits when I was a single mom,” Beatty said. She posted on community pages all over the area that families with kids under 18 could shoot her a text with their address and family size and she’d deliver home-cooked meals to them on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
On Tuesday, Nov. 4, Beatty delivered 32 homemade spaghetti dinners to people in American Canyon, Vallejo, Fairfield and nearby cities. By Saturday, Nov. 8, she was up until 3 in the morning, cooking to fill more than 108 meal orders.
“American Canyon and Vallejo have the greatest need,” Beatty said. Of the initial 32 who reached out, eight families were in American Canyon. One of those was a Spanish-speaking family living without electricity.
Beatty’s deliveries have included the homeless. “I have a couple unhoused families,” she said. “I’ve been delivering meals to hotels — whole families living in one motel room.”
Beatty is a first generation Mexican-American. “My mother always made beans, rice and tortillas. It’s such a hearty meal. It really does fill you up,” she said. So, on Tuesdays, she makes beans, rice and tortilla dinners — plenty of protein. Saturdays are spaghetti dinners. On both days there’s one cookie for each kid in the household.
“The more I learn about our community — these were problems before there was SNAP,” said Beatty. The federal shutdown opened her eyes to conditions to how much need there is in North Bay communities. The government reopening doesn’t mean the need goes away, she said.
“This is something that’s gonna continue going,” Beatty said. She is now working on a Thanksgiving meal delivery plan.
If you have children and are in need of a meal, reach out to Jackie Beatty directly over text: 707-315-7649.
