CSUB holding first CalFresh Carnival

Having enough money on hand to buy groceries can be challenging for many college students, especially as food costs have gone up due to inflation.

To help California State University, Bakersfield students get the relief they need, the Basic Needs Department is holding its first-ever CalFresh Carnival on April 23 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Student Union.

CalFresh is a statewide program that provides EBT cards, more commonly known as food stamps, to low-income individuals and families to ensure they have access to healthy food.

"This aid can be really helpful for our students. A lot of them qualify but don't know it," said Basic Needs Director Dr. Jason Watkins. "The aim of this event is to make students more aware of the benefits available to them."

The carnival will feature games, food vendors and resource booths from on-campus and community partners including Kern County Department of Human Services, Catholic Charities and the Community Action Partnership of Kern.

The Basic Needs Department has had previous CalFresh outreach efforts, but Dr. Watkins said the goal of having a carnival is to do something that can be more engaging than a typical resource fair.

"The idea is how do we share really helpful resources and information in a way that's fun for students?" he said. "It's an engaging way for students to learn about some things they're not aware of."

Shafter native Ludy Ortega Magaña, graduate student lead for the Basic Needs Department, came up with the idea to do a carnival after she attended the California Higher Education Basic Needs Alliance Summit in February with other staff from the department.

"We took notes and got together to talk about what we could implement on own campus, how we could reach out to more students and better meet their needs," she said. "The idea just came from that."

Magaña well understands the impact that the CalFresh program can have on families. Her own mother, who was a single parent raising two children, had CalFresh assistance while Magaña was in elementary and middle school. She and her sister even went to help translate for their mom, who only spoke Spanish, when she went to apply for the program.

"We benefitted so much from it," Magaña said. "I remember her taking us to the store with her and buying stuff with the card. I remember she would buy foods that me and my sister could make ourselves when she wasn't home."

Magaña said her mother would even occasionally purchase food with her EBT card that she would give to other family members who didn't live with them.

There were times during middle school when Magana said she felt somewhat resentful about her family needing to use CalFresh. As an adult, she realizes how helpful it was for her family.

"I remember I would be a little embarrassed. When you're a kid, your perceptions of things are very limited," she said. "As I got older, I saw how much of a need there was. I'm very thankful that this program exists."

Magaña tries to share her story with other students in the hopes that it will help convince them to apply for assistance. Beyond the barrier of many students not knowing about CalFresh or whether they qualify, she said some are also hesitant to apply out of a fear of being stigmatized.

"I understand where students come from when there's that hesitancy to get help," she said. "There's always a reason why they don't want to do it or can't do it. At the end of the day, no matter how much outreach we do, it has to come down to that person to make the decision. I try to get them to think of the long-term benefits they're going to receive and how CalFresh is not just for them but for their families as well."

Magana hopes the carnival will encourage more students to sign up for CalFresh and other resources by providing a welcoming, laid-back atmosphere.

"We're trying to create an environment where students don't feel like they're going into a corporate office and asking for help. We're trying to be fun and engaging," she said.

Dr. Watkins urges all students to come out to the carnival to learn more about CalFresh and the other resources that are available to them, even if they don't believe they currently need any assistance.

"A lot of these resources can save students money now, but some of them are designed for when the ups and downs of life come at us," he said. "Even if you don't know if you need this right now, it's great to come out and learn about what's available that way if something comes up down the road or you have friends or family that need help, you'll have a good handle on the resources."

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