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Lake County proclaims May 2025 as CalFresh Awareness Month
Summary
The Lake County Board of Supervisors adopted a proclamation designating May 2025 as CalFresh Awareness Month, highlighting local outreach, benefit use by working families and elders, and outreach efforts including market EBT matches and online application tools.
The Lake County Board of Supervisors on May 2025 adopted a proclamation designating May 2025 as CalFresh Awareness Month to promote enrollment and public awareness of CalFresh food benefits, county officials said.
The proclamation notes that "16,789 individuals in Lake County are currently receiving CalFresh benefits totaling $3,000,000 per month," amounting to "$36,940,000 in benefits over the course of the last year," and directs county support for outreach to populations including the elderly, people with disabilities, families and children.
Supervisor Sabatier read the proclamation to the board and invited participants to the dais. Tara Gandolfo, program manager for CalFresh, told the board that the county outreach team attends many community events and often works weekends and evenings to assist applicants. "They go above and beyond. They work Saturdays, they work nights, they work Sundays, and they're here to help," Gandolfo said.
Gandolfo described local program features available to recipients, including EBT matching at some local markets: "CalFresh is 1, Kelseyville and Clear Lake do match EBT benefits," and noted that EBT cards can be used at retailers that accept EBT and to buy edible plants such as tomato and bell pepper plants. She also referred residents to online resources, saying applicants can use benefitscal.com to apply and upload documents and can use "EBT Edge" to temporarily stop and start a card to prevent skimming.
Rachel Dillman Parsons, Lake County Social Services Director, emphasized that "CalFresh benefits are, used by working families, the elderly, the disabled," and said the common stigma that recipients are not working is "not for the most part accurate." Parsons described CalFresh as a supplemental benefit to help households buy nutritious food and urged eligible residents to apply.
Multiple supervisors and community members underscored local food insecurity. One supervisor said she and her daughter observed about 500 people in line at a weekly food distribution at Redbed Park and encouraged colleagues to attend a distribution day. Community volunteer Kevin Lohr was named as a regular volunteer at that weekly distribution.
The board adopted the proclamation; the transcript records the proclamation as "passed and adopted" and signed by Board Chair E.J. Crandall. The meeting transcript does not include a recorded motion-maker, seconder or a roll-call vote tally for the adoption.
The proclamation frames the designation as part of an outreach and public awareness campaign by Lake County Social Services to increase access and participation in CalFresh among eligible residents and to promote equity and inclusion in benefit access.
