CalFresh Emergency Response Impact Report
On November 1, 2025, over 300,000 people in the three Bay Area counties AIM serves did not receive their CalFresh benefits (federally known as SNAP) due to the government shutdown. AIM’s farmers markets process over 1,000 Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) transactions for CalFresh customer every week. We knew our community was going to be impacted and that we needed to take action to support food access and income for local farmers.
AIM’s initial instinct was to direct donation inquiries to food banks to help get free food into the hands of people who need it. We pivoted after discussions with the San Francisco Marin Food Bank and other partners. We were encouraged to find a way to support CalFresh beneficiaries with the critical food service AIM provides: choice.
Losing CalFresh benefits isn’t just about food access, but the freedom to pick and choose foods that work for lifestyles, cultures, diets, and preferences. Additionally, we also needed to address lost income for our farmers. A reduction in CalFresh benefits being spent meant a hit to their sales. We immediately jumped into motion to find a way to continue providing a market experience for everyone.
AIM Emergency CalFresh Fund
Our team created the Emergency CalFresh Fund to accept donations from our community offering help. Our plan was to provide dollars to our CalFresh recipients to allow them to purchase the foods that work for them.
This approach not only made sure people had food to eat, but put dollars back in the farmers’ and producers’ pockets. AIM markets process an average of $35,000 in EBT sales a week. Without CalFresh shoppers, our market participants were facing a huge loss of regular income. The Emergency CalFresh Fund helped them recoup some of these losses.
This community really showed up. Thank you to our network of partners and organizations, and our staff and volunteers for pulling it all together. The support we were able to offer each other by working together is significant.
Breaking Down Our Impact
That’s a total of $33,800 in free produce distributed to about 1,140 shoppers across AIM’s markets, plus $20,000 in dairy, eggs, and meat gifted to food pantries to feed an additional 1,000 families.
Total Impact: $53,800 provided to 2,140 families for food and in dollars to small California farmers and food producers.
Produce Credits at The Rollin’ Root
The first wave of Emergency CalFresh Fund donations was directed towards our customers at The Rollin’ Root. Our mobile farmers market serves a high proportion of low-income seniors. Their CalFresh benefits are often very low to begin with. We knew any dollars we could get them would be impactful. We offered a $15 credit to anyone who showed up at one of The Rollin’ Root’s stops with a valid EBT card. Over the month of November, we provided a total of $1,328 worth of free produce to 94 CalFresh shoppers.
San Francisco Emergency Food Bucks
Donations from you continued to roll in, allowing us to expand efforts to the two markets where we serve the most CalFresh customers. We printed and distributed $15 Emergency Food Vouchers to customers with low EBT balances at our Stonestown and Clement St. markets. We were able to gift $3,345 of fruits and vegetables to over 200 CalFresh shoppers.
Alameda County FarmRx
Alameda County’s Board of Supervisors granted another partner organization, Fresh Approach. They collaborated with farmers markets to distribute $10 FarmRx food vouchers to anyone with a CalFresh card. AIM was able to give out $4,000 of vouchers to 400 shoppers in just one weekend at our Hayward, Grand Lake, at Newark markets.
Marin Local Food Bucks
In addition to private donations, AIM received a Food on Every Table grant from the Marin Community Foundation through our partnership with them, the SF-Marin Food Bank, and Extra Food. We used this money to provide a one-time $80 booklet of vouchers to EBT shoppers at our Marin markets or one of The Rollin’ Root’s Marin stops. To date, we have provided $22,500 to over 265 CalFresh households this month as people prep for the holiday season. For CalFresh shopper Phoebe Katzenbach, “The Local Food Bucks were incredibly generous and I was able to treat myself during the holiday.”
Gifting Marin County Food Pantries
AIM used $20,000 of the Food on Every Table grant to bulk purchase dairydairy, eggs, and proteins to donate to food pantries. We were able to purchase products like pasture-raised eggs and chickens, cheese, ground beef, plus fajita and stew meat from our West Marin dairies and ranches. Local proteins and dairy are rarely provided by food pantries, and we were able to provide support to more than 1,000 families during the holiday season.
This was another double benefit initiative. We were able to pay farmers for their products, providing $20,000 in sales to local producers including Gilardi’s Family Farm, Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese, Marin Coast Ranch, Silver Sky Ranch, and Stemple Creek Ranch.
Temporary Market Match
Market Match up to $15 was still offered to CalFresh customers who had an existing balance. For customers who did not have a balance, the California Department of Food and Agriculture continued to offer $15 for produce purchases. This meant that CalFresh recipients who were eligible for our San Francisco Emergency Food Bucks were also eligible for $15 in Temporary Market Match. That totals $30 for shoppers who had a low or no balance. Over 170 CalFresh shoppers at AIM markets received $2,635 in Temporary Market Match benefits