Homeless, elderly and disabled people in Orange County can use food stamp debit cards to buy hot meals
The program, promoted by homeless advocates and approved by the county
So far, there are eight approved eateries in
Arvind Thakori, owner of
"At least when they sleep, they will have something in their stomach," said Thakori, who immigrated to
He added that his
"I was so excited," said a smiling Thakori, who displayed a sign in a corner window saying "EBT Accepted Here."
Another 56 establishments have applied to the program and are at various stages in the approval process, said
"We expect more to be approved within the next few weeks," Nichelson said, explaining that it is a back-and-forth process between the federal government and the
Participating food providers must fit the county's criteria of a "private for-profit establishment where meals are sold and served to customers, including in store delis," according to the Restaurant Meals Program website.
At last count, the 10,592 CalFresh recipients who are homeless make up the second-largest group eligible for the program, behind the elderly. Lobbying by homeless advocates and merchants to initiate the program dates back at least six years, but picked up a crucial supporter when
"There is a tendency to think of homeless people as different," Aly said. "By allowing them to come in and interact in a neutral environment and just be treated as normal customers emphasizes their sameness rather than difference."
He added that the start of the Restaurant Meals Program is timely, with a crackdown on serving food to homeless people at the
A few
"They were scared it might bring in those that are very unfortunate, who are having a rough time and don't smell very good," Haywood said. "I was like, no, that's not necessarily how this works, so at least give it a chance."
He told them the program has seen great success at
"I was like y'all need to hush, because we don't see this up in L.A."
Besides the seven approved
Haywood is eager to get started, convinced the portability of
The supervisors chose to initiate a one-year pilot project which focuses on locations in
Applications from potential eateries in
"It's up to the client to choose the meal but the restaurant has to have a healthy option," Nichelson said.
About half of the applicants currently under consideration are
Participating merchants must pay for the CalFresh EBT card reader that will be used to ring up Restaurant Meals Program purchases. Thakori said his cost for the equipment at
"I'm not doing this to make money," Thakori said. "This is just to help the community and have the satisfaction that I did something."
For a list of participating restaurants, go to ssa.ocgov.com/calfresh and navigate to CalFresh on the menu and then Restaurant Meals Program, or call
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