October 20, 2017 – Hot and prepared foods can be purchased with CalFresh EBT cards in Nevada County, now through November 15th, 2017, due to the Lobo and McCourtney fires. Standard CalFresh program rules do not allow customers to utilize their benefits to purchase hot and prepared food, but the United States Department of Agriculture has approved a waiver to help assist customers that are not able to store or prepare food due to severe fire damage and/or evacuations. Nevada County retail and grocery food stores licensed by the Food and Nutrition Service have been notified that they may accept CalFresh benefits in exchange for hot foods.
Additionally, all Penn Valley (95946) and Rough and Ready (95975) CalFresh households automatically received replacement CalFresh benefits on their EBT cards for the month of October. If you do not live in one of these two zip codes, but lost food because of power outages during the Lobo and McCourtney fires, please contact the Nevada County Department of Social Services before November 8th, 2017 to apply for replacement CalFresh benefits. CalFresh households who lost power for four hours or more are eligible for replacement CalFresh benefits.
Additional assistance is also available to CalWORKs recipients effected by the recent fires. CalWORKs recipients may be entitled to receive a one-time special need payment to repair or replace clothing or household equipment; to provide assistance for damages to the home; or to pay for interim shelter when the family’s home was destroyed or made uninhabitable or inaccessible due to a disaster. To access these services please contact the Department of Social Services.
If you have additional questions about the CalFresh or CalWORKs programs, or specialized programs currently in effect due to the recent fires, please contact the Nevada County Department of Social Services at (530) 265-1340 or Sara Connor, Program Manager, at Sara.Connor@co.nevada.ca.us.