For some SNAP recipients, a reprieve

For Zuri Crawford, the last several weeks have been an emotional whirlwind — swinging from fears to frustration to now partial relief.

- BY REBECCA PLEVIN AND JENNY GOLD

ZURI CRAWFORD depends on SNAP to buy groceries for her and her 1-year-old.

(GINA FERAZZI Los Angeles Times)

A 20-year-old single mother and Riverside City College student, Crawford depends on the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to buy groceries for herself and her young son. Last week, she braced herself for the possibility that — because of the federal shutdown — she would not receive the $445 that typically gets loaded onto her state-issued debit card on the sixth day of every month.

"I really feel like I’m going to be burnt out. I feel like it’s going to be hard on me because I am a single mom," she said on a recent afternoon. "I have to push through, but I am going to be overwhelmed."

On Thursday, however, Crawford was surprised to learn that the $445 payment had shown up on her card. Soon after, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that, because of a court victory, "food benefits are now beginning to flow back to California families" — at least temporarily.

Crawford is one of roughly 5.5 million statewide who depend on this food aid — known in California as CalFresh — and one of 42 million people nationwide. In recent weeks, this group has been caught in the crosshairs of a political battle that has shifted from Congress to courtrooms amid a federal shutdown that has now lasted more than five weeks.

As of early Friday, two federal judges had ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture to use billions of dollars in contingency funding to continue providing SNAP support — the reason Crawford and many others nationwide received their full benefits Thursday.