If you need help, applying for CalFresh (also known as food stamps) is easier than you think! The quickest way is online: visit GetCalFresh.org if you’re just looking for groceries, or BenefitsCal.com if you also need Medi-Cal or CalWORKS. If you don’t like virtual, or aren’t able to access the internet, call your local office or stop by in person.
Once approved, you will receive the benefits on this EBT card. Basically, it works like a debit card: you use it wherever EBT is accepted (many places throughout California!). You can buy an infinite amount of fresh, non-perishable food products at supermarkets, convenience stores, and farmers markets to feed your family.
From time to time, you must recertify your eligibility for CalFresh
To avoid losing your food stamps, you have to renew them from time to time. First, after 6 months you must submit the SAR 7 form (yes, with proof of income, we’ll talk about it later). Then, every 1 or 2 years (depending on whether there are older adults or people with disabilities in your home, in very specific cases, every six months), the “recertification” corresponds. They will notify you by email, but put an alert on your cell phone just in case.
All of this is for program officials to confirm that you and your family are still eligible and still need financial support to put fresh food on the table.
CalFresh benefits (food) are sent during the first 10 days of each month, based on the last digit of your case number. You will find that number in the case folder when your application was approved. The payment schedule is close to starting in March, on March 1:
- If your case number ends in 1, payment drops on March 1
- If your case number ends in 2, payment drops on March 2
- If your case number ends in 3, payment drops on March 3
- If your case number ends in 4, payment drops on March 4
- If your case number ends in 5, payment drops on March 5
- If your case number ends in 6, payment drops on March 6
- If your case number ends in 7, payment drops on March 7
- If your case number ends in 8, payment drops on March 8
- If your case number ends in 9, payment drops on March 9
- If your case number ends in 0, payment drops on March 10
Avoid failing with SAR 7, essential to continue with CalFresh benefits
This form is key to continuing to receive help. Include changes in income or expenses, and send it on time (or goodbye deposit!). Are you lost? Find help at BenefitsCal, call 1-877-847-3663, or review how-to guides. And be careful with the telephone interview that is usually requested.
Don’t lie or miss any indispensable data or fact, because this could end in the termination of the allotments. Be totally sincere and transparent: this is critical as for the officials.
