Courtesy Del Norte County Department of Health and Human Services Thumbnail image: Marina MacNeil and Dominique Richcreek, staff members at Pacific Pantry, visited Smith River in this photo from September 2024 with the pantry's mobile market. | Photo by Jessica Cejnar Andrews Some 3,900 Del Norte County families could find themselves without their CalFresh benefits by the end of the week, according to Health and Human Services Director Ranell Brown. The notice that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits will not be issued on Saturday due to the federal government shutdown has a handful of organizations scrambling to address the sudden need. Marina MacNeil, food bank director at Family Resource Center of the Redwoods said she’s ordering extra food for the Pacific Pantry while the FRC gears up for its annual holiday drive. “We’re trying to be very visible and let people know that it’s easy to sign up,” she told Redwood Voice Community News on Friday. “They just need an ID.” Julie Carter-Bjorkstrand, Del Norte Unified School District’s nutrition services director, said she’s also working on a plan to address the need students and families may have as a result of the loss in SNAP benefits. But she was reluctant to say too much until she had final confirmation. “I just hate saying anything when it isn’t 100%,” she said. While there are things happening, District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey said she’s worried that it’s going to be a drop in the bucket. With Del Norte families receiving about $1.1 million per month in SNAP benefits, Starkey said she’s worried that the loss will reverberate throughout the whole community. “That $1.1 million gets pumped into our local economy, to Walmart and Safeway and small businesses,” she said, adding that Del Norte families use CalFresh benefits at the local farmers market and Pacific Pantry purchases milk and eggs from Alexandre Family Farm. “Think of the impact we’re going to have on those people not getting that money.” In an email to Redwood Voice on Oct. 23, Brown said that so far, CalFresh is the only program that will not have funding as of Nov. 1, but other programs may be impacted in the near future. DHHS is keeping the community apprised of those changes through flyers and social media and keeps a list of community resources to share with impacted individuals, she said. According to the California Association of Food Banks, or CalFood, of the $1,106,762 in benefits Del Norte families receive, most comes from federal funding. On its website, CalFood urges people to reach out to their local food banks for assistance. The organization also states that California WIC also continues to serve families. Thanks to funding from the Area 1 Agency on Aging and the 2024 and 2025 federal allocations to the Community Development Block Grant program, the Del Norte Senior Center’s nutrition program should be stable “for awhile,” Executive Director Charlaine Mazzei said. However, while the program doesn’t require income or asset reporting from its clients who take advantage of the program, of the 205 who volunteered that information for fiscal year 2024-25, about 150 would have met income qualifications to receive SNAP benefits, Mazzei said. Between 63% and 66% of senior center clients who receive energy assistance also report receiving food stamps, she said. As for Redwood Cove Senior Apartments, while the senior center doesn’t have data on how many residents receive CalFresh benefits, all would qualify based on their income, Mazzei said. Mazzei is also executive director of Del Norte Mission Possible. While that organization lacks data on how many of its clients receive CalFresh benefits, she said it’s a critical program when it comes to keeping people out of poverty and homelessness. “Along with MediCal, CalFresh is the first rung in the ladder to self-sufficiency,” Mazzei said. “Without it, hunger and the need to obtain basic food by any means will increase dramatically.” When she heard SNAP benefits may be suspended on Saturday, Starkey said she was on the phone with State Sen. Mike McGuire. According to her, McGuire has been working with the California Association of Food Banks, or CalFood, to get additional funding to Pacific Pantry so it can prepare for the influx of clients they may receive as a result. But, Starkey said, she’s not sure if that injection of funding is over and above what Pacific Pantry would have received normally or if it’s expediting its allocation for next quarter. “We won’t know that until we get to sit down with the state,” she said. “But it’s coming and it’s so food banks can prepare for the influx they’re going to get.” Stuart Nichols, who works with the Community Assistance Network, or CAN, said that organization partners with Grace Lutheran Church to operate a food pantry, feeding about 60 to 70 families per week. In addition to doing food recovery through Safeway six days per week, CAN is one of the local recipients of the supermarket’s twice-a-year food drive, Nichols said. “They equate to gift cards and we’ll be distributing those to a number of sources,” Nichols said about the Safeway food drive. “One is Daphne with Mission Possible, and the senior center with the showers they provide there a couple of times a week.” CAN has operated without grants for a number of years. People can donate by contacting Grace Lutheran Church at (707) 464-4712. Mazzei said the federal government shutdown impacts seniors in other ways. The senior center’s 2025 contract with the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, has already run out of assistance funds and is set to run out of the money it needs to maintain staff by the end of December or January. “Our 2026 energy services contract would normally have been in place starting November 1st, but without a federal budget there will be no new money,” she said. The Del Norte Senior Center also receives funding for staff and operations through a Community Services Block Grant, which can be extended through the end of April 2026. A new contract takes effect Jan. 1, but if the federal government shutdown persists, there will be no new money beyond April, Mazzei said. Redwood Cove Senior Apartments also has a five-year contract with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Previous government shutdowns haven’t impacted the program’s subsidy payment before, but Mazzei said she’s waiting to see if the Nov. 1 subsidy payment will materialize. “I wish there was an easy fix to this,” she said. “The fact is Del Norte County and its population rely on federal funds in multiple ways that can’t be easily replaced. It’s difficult to focus on one threat when they are coming in from all directions.” Pacific Pantry operates from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursdays, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays and from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the first and third Saturdays of the month. Clients are allowed one visit per month. Rural Human Services provides food bank services in Crescent City, Smith River, Fort Dick, Gasquet, Hiouchi, Klamath and Klamath Glenn as well as senior boxes. For more information, call (707) 464-7441.