Three years after COVID-19 went into full swing, terrorizing millions, life has finally subsided to a relative normalcy. So what will the food bank do now? We’re of course, talking about the state capital’s food bank. But perhaps, we can dial back and see what led up to this.

With three years having gone by, additional food assistance benefits have spiked in order to assist all affected Californian families through the good, bad, and ugly parts of COVID-19, aka the Corona Virus. And while it is amazing that finally, we all seem to be reverting back to business as usual with masks only being required nowadays in high density areas like airports and hospitals, the truth of the matter is with resources being accessible, do food assistance programs have to continue spoiling the litter? Probably not.

And that’s the problem.

Some households have developed such a dependence on the programs, that quickly shifting back to “the way things were” will be a total culture shock for those who simply can’t just buy the usual groceries, being that they’ve skyrocketed in the interim.

The aid by CalFresh for COVID-19 particularly has ended long ago in February. And this is a struggle for many California households because one by one, they’re losing on average assistance that totaled out to $216 a month. Such circumstances can be difficult but that won’t stop the Sacramento Food Bank, for starters. It’s their job to help!

Many families aren’t receiving the benefit anymore, so it’s clear that they’ll be planning and continuing to provide increasing numbers of Californians even more assistance in receiving the food necessary to survive. But it’s making some residents worry, considering that their money doesn’t reach as far back as it once did. Since they’ve been buckling down, food assistance has doubled since pre-pandemic days, as the Sacramento Food Bank alone is servicing 300,000 every month. It’s all thanks to their partnership with over 120 nonprofit organizations that are able to distribute over 3 Million Pounds of Food.

A ballpark of 137,126 households have been depending on CalFresh benefits. Which in turn translates to about 253,264 individuals.

It’s all very surprising and scary at once but to be fair, this is just the way the market has been changing as of recent. We don’t even need to talk about how much population has boomed since the pandemic has entered the United States of America. It’s really a surprise that shows the best of how California prevails in the face of danger and adversity. And even though the benefits might end, what a whopping quantity of benefits they were. About $68,870,616 had been issued to families all over the state, as documented in December. Meanwhile, the extra food assistance benefits have been expected to subtract themselves at a rate of $29,519,219 less per month. If that isn’t bad luck, we’re not quite sure what is. One thing is for certain, however; it’s necessary to trust in your local community when all else fails.