Redwood City restaurant helps families that will stop receiving SNAP benefits

Throughout the Bay Area, from food pantries to businesses, people are stepping in to help families who are expecting to lose their SNAP benefits.

This is coming at an already critical time for food pantries. And at a time when lawmakers cannot reach an agreement, pantries and food spots are stepping up.

Saif and his brother own Mazra in Redwood City, and they announced this morning they would be giving meals to 50 families for the entire month of November.

He said he received about 200 emails within three hours, ranging from people who are elderly to single parents.

“Hearing about anyone struggling with food just bothers us,” Saif said. “Too many people are affected by this and there’s no real indication as to when the government is going to end this.”

As the government shutdown continues, millions of people throughout the U.S. could lose their SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps, this Saturday. That includes approximately 5.5 million people in California.

Yesenia Alvarez says the looming halt to snap made her race to the Calvary Chapel in East San Jose.

“It’s giving us too much stress that we are not getting food,” Alvarez said.

“We are always well prepared for anything and everything, but we don’t even know how to prepare for this so all we can do is get those volunteer numbers up,” said Dalenna Hughes, associate director at Sacred Heart Community Service.

Hughes says this is a critical time, and along with volunteers, they’re also looking for food donations.

“The most expensive thing and hardest to find is protein items, meat, chicken, turkey, ham, eggs, milk, canned goods, dry goods,” Hughes said.

Meantime, Mazra joins a growing list of restaurants throughout the Bay Area hoping to show up for their community.

“I don’t want to hear about a mom or some person struggling on how do I feed my kid, that was enough for us to want to do this,” Saif said.