ADELA GONZALES - RIVERSIDE RESIDENT

Hello, my name is Adela Gonzales. I am a California Student Ambassador for RCC breaking the stigmas against CalFresh and encouraging students to apply for benefits.

I wanted to start off with a few misconceptions about the program. Many students believe they will not qualify for benefits because the government only has so much funding for the program, which is incorrect, we do in fact receive more funding from the federal government to provide as many people benefits as possible. 

Some students also believe it’s too hard to apply and takes too long to be reviewed when actually it takes about 10 minutes to apply, and depending on your current financial status the county has 3-5 business days to review and file your case.

Another misconception is that students believe they are required to pay back what they used while receiving CalFresh benefits in which they do not have to pay a cent back, it is purely for food gain. You could use your benefits to buy hot meals at some approved restaurants, but the best part is that you can use your benefits at Farmers Markets and the majority of farmers markets double the dollar making it easier to stock up on farm-fresh produce and support your local farmers.

I believe it is definitely worth a shot to apply for free money solely for food, we apply for financial aid for our schooling, why not for food?