‘A very challenging time’: SNAP cuts and lost funding deepen food insecurity in Santa Cruz County

Every week, at its sprawling headquarters of industrial buildings and loading docks at the end of Chanticleer Avenue in Live Oak, a team of volunteers at Grey Bears packs 4,000 brown bags of groceries to deliver to older adults throughout Santa Cruz County. 

All of the bags are packed with the same exact items – mostly seasonal produce and a loaf of bread, and sometimes dry goods. In order to make sure it has enough for everyone, Grey Bears relies on large deliveries from Second Harvest Food Bank or purchases food outright, rather than redistributing donations from grocery stores or restaurants, which are more variable and often aren’t enough. 

“We used to get around 10 pallets a week from [Second Harvest]. It used to be something we could count on always getting. It was never an issue,” said Danielle Wong, Grey Bears’ food program director. “It’s become extremely variable. We never know how much we’re going to get.”

Nonprofit and social service leaders warn that this scarcity is just the early indicator of what federal cuts will mean for vital assistance programs that serve thousands of Santa Cruz County adults, seniors and families, driving people who previously relied on those programs to the food bank. This surge could come at a moment when food banks have fewer resources to offer, and the effects will reverberate throughout the local economy.

Sometimes, in the summer and fall, fresh produce is abundant and available at local farms, Grey Bears still gets 10 pallets of food. But more frequently, the warehouse might receive only two or three. 

The food bank is still reeling from unprecedented federal funding cuts last spring that gutted critical food sources. In March, food banks across the nation, including Second Harvest, lost hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of food distributed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In Santa Cruz County, it amounted to a permanent loss of truckloads of food – most notably, proteins like pork, dairy and beef that aren’t grown locally – worth more than $700,000. 

Six months later, Second Harvest is still scrambling to meet demand. “We’re doing a lot of optimization work right now, making sure that we’re being as effective and efficient as possible with all of our purchasing,” Second Harvest CEO Erica Padilla-Chavez told Lookout. “But who are we kidding? As much as we work hard to fundraise, these are very deep cuts that make it challenging.”

At a Sept. 30 meeting of the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors, Padilla-Chavez and other county health leaders warned that the situation could get a lot worse when cuts to assistance programs laid out in H.R. 1, aka President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” come down. 

“These cuts mean that we’re going to see food banks across the nation become the first line of defense against food insecurity,” said Padilla-Chavez. “We recognize that this is going to be a very challenging time for people to secure and maintain benefits.”

In Santa Cruz County, food insecurity – when people don’t have enough to eat, or don’t know where their next meal will come from – has grown every year since the pandemic. The county’s superlatively unaffordable housing market and high cost of living are driving residents to seek food assistance, according to data collected by the food bank, Padilla-Chavez said. 

On average, about 73,000 Santa Cruz County residents per month seek out food through one of the food bank’s partner agencies – up from 41,000 in 2019, before the pandemic – whether it’s through a bag of groceries at Grey Bears, a stop at a pantry at a local church or a hot meal at organizations like Pajaro Valley Loaves and Fishes.

That means more than a quarter of county residents are experiencing food insecurity, according to recent census data. That figure is similar to the statewide average. In the winter, when there are few agricultural jobs, that number can be higher. In February, Second Harvest served more than 100,000 people, said Padilla-Chavez. 

According to a study done by researchers at UC Santa Cruz in 2019, around 42% of individuals who are food-insecure depend on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP – the modern equivalent to food stamps – to purchase food with an EBT card. 

But new restrictions will reduce the number of people who qualify for SNAP. Starting Nov. 1, people up to age 65 must meet certain work requirements (up from age 54). Caregivers with dependents age 14 or under will also have to work (previously, they didn’t have work requirements until their dependents turned 18). HR-1 also eliminates exemptions for veterans, individuals experiencing homelessness and former foster youth. 

Health leaders estimate that at least 7,000 households out of the 35,500 that currently receive SNAP benefits will see their monthly allowance for groceries reduced or eliminated. 

The effects will ripple throughout the community, Randy Morris, the county’s director of human services, said at the board of supervisors meeting. “There’s currently about $77 million of CalFresh benefits flowing into the pockets of low-income people in our community, who are then purchasing food in our community,” he said. Cutting those grocery purchases by 20% amounts to a loss of $16.8 million within the local economy. 

Cuts like these will be noticed, social service leaders said. Second Harvest’s purchasing power was already reduced earlier this year when the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program, which allowed the food bank to buy food directly from local farmers, was cut in March. 

“We were buying up to $750,000 worth of food from small farmers,” said Padilla-Chavez. “I can tell you from speaking to some of those small farmers, they’re having a very challenging time.”

Second Harvest is exploring creative ideas to fill its warehouses. It’s discussing partnerships with other California food banks to trade resources – Santa Cruz County produce in exchange for Fresno County pork, for example – but it’s still being tested, Padilla-Chavez told Lookout. It’s also talking with other Central Coast food banks, including in San Benito County, to increase purchasing power by ordering in bulk for less. 

The food bank is also trying to replicate the food purchasing program with area farms, but without the federal funding lost in March. “We recognize how valuable it is to support our local small farmers, because they make up a large percentage of our agricultural community and employ a lot of people,” Padilla-Chavez said. 

In Santa Cruz, Grey Bears is already preparing for a surge in older adults seeking food assistance once the new SNAP work requirements go into effect next month, by increasing its food purchasing budget. 

Wong, the food program director, said Second Harvest is working hard to source from new places, but acknowledges that these days, it can’t always accommodate Grey Bears’ large orders. 

“They have to share equally with the community, so that’s when it’s on us to make sure that our bags are going out full,” she said. “With these new [federal SNAP benefit] cuts, more people may access our services. Hopefully, I think we’ll be able to keep up.” 

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