More than five hundred seniors have gained access to vital food assistance programs as part of Supervisor Andrew Do’s campaign to combat hunger in Orange County.
This summer, Supervisor Do launched an outreach effort to address the troubling number of Orange County seniors going hungry. As many as one-third of low-income seniors do not have enough food to eat, according to a report released earlier this year by the Orange County Strategic Plan for Aging.
“Orange County’s popular image doesn’t tell the full story of our community’s needs,” explained Supervisor Do. “Right here in Orange County, seniors on fixed incomes are choosing between paying the rent and putting food on the table.”
“We’re working to change that.”
To address the problem, Supervisor Do organized outreach events to help seniors living on fixed incomes enroll in the CalFresh food assistance program, which recently expanded eligibility to seniors receiving Supplemental Security Income/State Supplemental Payment (SSI/SSP) benefits.
Orange County Seniors Accessing CalFresh Program
At three community events, staff from the Orange County Social Services Agency assisted 504 new clients, processed 311 new CalFresh applications, and continue to receive a high volume of enrollment calls.
City | Date | Clients Assisted | Applications Processed | EBT Cards Printed On-Site |
Garden Grove | 7/29/2019 | 181 | 117 | 5 |
Westminster | 8/6/2019 | 202 | 129 | 45 |
Santa Ana | 8/12/2019 | 121 | 65 | 0 – Poor Connectivity |
Total | 504 | 311 | 50 |
Source: County of Orange Social Services Agency
Supervisor Do says that, despite the substantial increase in enrollment, more work needs to be done to help low-income seniors access food support services. An estimated 32,000 OC seniors are expected to qualify for the expanded CalFresh program.
“Seniors living on fixed incomes are the most vulnerable to inflationary pressures,” said Supervisor Do. “We’ll continue to support our seniors struggling with California’s skyrocketing cost of living.”
In addition to helping low-income seniors access food assistance, Supervisor Do launched the Safe Homes for OC Seniors program to provide home improvement grants to low-income seniors in Orange County’s unincorporated communities.
For more information about accessing food assistance, contact Supervisor Andrew Do’s office at 714-834-3110, or email first.district@ocgov.com. For a list of Social Services Agencies in Orange County, check out the locator site.