According to CalMatters Housing, California has a federal summer food assistance program that's getting attention right now because families are running out of time to use their benefits. The state sends out what they call SUN Bucks cards loaded with 120 dollars per child to low-income families whose kids qualify for free or reduced lunch programs or who are enrolled in programs like MediCal. These cards are meant to help families buy groceries during the summer months when school is out and those meal programs aren't running.
Here's the thing that matters most right now: families only have a 122-day window to spend the money on their cards before it expires and goes back to the federal government. Since California mailed out these cards in batches throughout the summer, some families are down to just a couple of weeks to use their benefits. The state has already sent out nearly 3.8 million of these cards to eligible families.
What's striking is that a lot of this money goes unused every year. According to data obtained by CalMatters, almost a quarter of summer food benefits went unspent last year, which amounted to about 118 million dollars sitting on the table. Some families never even activate their cards after receiving them. This year, nearly 106 million dollars in SUN Bucks remain unspent across the state.
The state tries to remind families about the program through text messages and other outreach, but clearly those efforts aren't reaching everyone. According to a California Department of Social Services spokesperson, if a family is getting both SUN Bucks and the regular CalFresh food assistance program, they should prioritize spending the SUN Bucks first since those benefits are about to expire.
What I am seeing locally with my clients is that these kinds of federal assistance programs often get overlooked by the families who need them most, and that's a real shame when we're talking about food security. In Fremont and across the East Bay, there are plenty of lower-income households dealing with housing costs that keep climbing, and when they miss out on available groceries assistance because of expiration deadlines, it puts even more pressure on family budgets.
