Every week, the Tri-City Food Bank and Mobile Pantry serves an average of 1,500 families. In light of new federal requirements for Californians to receive food assistance, the organization may see growing demand and a rise in this number.
On June 1, 2026, California began enforcing federal guidelines outlined in H.R.1, the legislation also known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which requires some CalFresh recipients to work or participate in qualifying activities 20 hours a week. Those who do not qualify will be limited to receiving three months of CalFresh within three years.
This follows an earlier policy change that took place on April 1, which limited CalFresh assistance for some groups of lawfully present noncitizens, including refugees and asylees.
Over 170,000 residents in Alameda County in 2025 were enrolled in CalFresh, California’s version of the federal Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program that provides food stamps to low-income individuals and families.
Linda Leu is the executive director of the Tri-City Food Bank in Fremont, which receives supplies from the Alameda County Community Food Bank, a larger nonprofit organization. She said that the local region would be particularly impacted by these restrictions.
“There are a lot of immigrants and refugees in the tri-cities who aren’t necessarily undocumented; they just aren’t citizens yet,” Leu said. “Because a huge population of people falls into that category, we are going to bear a really big brunt of that impact.”
According to Leu, the food bank has been experiencing higher numbers of residents coming in to receive aid since the end of 2025, during the federal government shutdown. “We had really long lines. We were consistently getting about 100 additional families every week,” Leu said.
She also remembers speaking to a resident who worked for TSA who was not receiving paychecks during this period. “She ended up having to come to the food bank, and she was just telling us how relieving it was to get food to feed her kid.”
To meet projected growing demand, Tri-City Food Bank is adjusting its volunteer hours to offer Saturday sessions over the summer, set to begin June 6. “Our normal hours are on weekdays, when people usually have nine-to-five jobs, so we decided we would try to open for a couple of hours on the weekend,” said Leu. She also noted that summer can be particularly difficult for low-income families with children who temporarily lose access to free school meals during this period.
Sue Caswell is a retired Fremont resident who has volunteered with the food bank since October 2024. “I’ve noticed over the couple of years that I’ve been there that the amount of food we’ve given out or have available is less, especially so during the government shutdown,” she said. Despite these challenges, she added, “The staff there and the regular volunteers I see are all very dedicated. We have great camaraderie when we’re helping the clients out.”
TCV Food Bank
Mon-Thur: 10am – 2pm
Friday 10am-11:30am drive-thru
Saturday 10am – 12pm
