Dear NAMI Contra Costa Supporter,
We at NAMI CC want to thank you for your unwavering dedication and generous support over the last year. It is you that enables NAMI CC to provide support, outreach, education, and advocacy to individuals living with–and families impacted by–mental illness.
As the final stretch of the year quickly approaches, we urgently need your financial support to help us do our part to strengthen the safety net that is in jeopardy for those we serve. Due to a very difficult political climate and inhumane budget cuts, many vulnerable individuals are now facing food insecurity. Beginning November 2025, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will be eliminated, which makes it more challenging for those we serve to remain sheltered. Our Board is committed to ensuring that no one living with a mental illness, and who is currently housed, will lose their ability to remain sheltered.
Kalia is a recipient of our services and would like to share with you what it means to lose $200 a month from SNAP:
In a word, I am terrified. I am also grief-stricken about ALL that is currently being destroyed by the political madness that is sweeping through our nation. For myself, yes, but also for the millions of CHILDREN who will be HUNGRY starting next week, and the millions of disabled people and seniors all over America who will be hungry, all of us struggling to cobble together sustenance. What is happening at the federal level is beyond heartbreaking. I am a Mental Health Peer writing to share what I am experiencing in the current political climate, which is, for me and people like me, a devastating storm. I learned on Wednesday of this week that there will be no SNAP (food stamps) starting one week from now, November 1. Because I am disabled, I live on less than half of the Federal Poverty Line for a single adult, and my designated $202 of food stamps is almost my entire grocery budget each month. I have been disabled since 1994. I also am housed by means of a HUD Housing Voucher, and my total monthly income is a combination of SSDI & SSI. My health insurance is a combination of Medicare & MediCal. I am very, very skilled, careful and thrifty with the safety net I live in, and also very, very grateful for it all every day. Gratitude is a verb, and I do ALL that I can each day to be of service to others who have less than I do, and to say, “Thank you, America!” that I have not been left to die on the sidewalk, as I nearly did in the mid-1990’s when my health crashed totally out from under me in such a repeatedly life-threatening way. It is very important to me to be responsible and respectful of my safety net, and I am. When I learned I will have no grocery money starting in November, I was stunned into shock. Slowly my feelings emerged—fear (which I strived to meet with faith), then terror…about the very real possibility that this government might freeze the funding for HUD Vouchers…which would result in me being homeless again. OMG. How would I live through that?? I am 61 years old now and do not know if I could survive it. And what if this Administration froze Social Security funding…for disabled people and seniors? Unless you have been hungry with no way to get food, and/or unable to stay in shelter, and/or very, very ill and unable to secure needed medical or mental health care (as I and so many have, many times), it is hard to even imagine what this IS—the imposition of constant terror and shame, the dignity assault—onto a human being, and the way it cripples a human life. Once we fall all the way down into that thick-tule-fogged terrible hole, it is very, very hard to climb out again.
Donald is another Peer volunteer who would like to share what losing benefits means for him:
Hello, my name is Donald and I am a peer and mental health advocate. I recently got news that there would be a government shutdown and it was going to affect all of us, especially those of us with SNAP benefits. Sure enough, it is affecting my SNAP benefits and they will be on hold in November. The hardest part is that I’m already struggling to pay rent and utilities and now this is another hurdle I have to get over. The first thing I’m worried about is how am I going to eat this week, the second thing is being someone who has been diagnosed with PTSD, Anxiety, and Depression. Lastly, how is this going to impact my Medi-Cal because I have ulcerative colitis, and pre-diabetic. Now I am at the point where I’m asking friends and other people that I will clean their house in exchange for money to support myself and hopefully buy food and other daily necessities. NAMI has been a wonderful support system for me. They have been more than just an organization but they’ve become family to me. I have been given opportunities to educate others about mental health awareness, and how it is important to advocate for others as well as advocate for myself. I am a co-facilitator for a support group and I’ve taught a class called Peer-to-Peer as a way to give back. I also participate in another support group to keep my wellness in check so that I’m able to fill my cup before filling other people’s cups. NAMI is the main reason why I joined the SPIRIT Program and has inspired me to want to be a peer support specialist, I’m also doing the Medi-Cal Peer support 80 hour training so that I can have a job in peer support not only in the bay area but all over California. My hope is that as I’m writing this, people will understand that we cannot survive without the things we need like food and all of our basic needs to not only survive but to thrive and be the best versions of ourselves. We also need community now more than ever before in this uncertain time.” – DL
We humbly ask you to contribute what you can to this vital task, and no amount is too small. Our plan is simple—supply bags of groceries and cash supplements as a replacement to the monthly SNAP entitlement so we can prevent homelessness. Our goal is a heavy lift, but with your partnership, we believe food security is attainable. Your tax-deductible, charitable donation will help us create a safety net that exemplifies our mantra… “You Are Not Alone.”
Enclosed is a poem written by Kalia that speaks to the essence of hope. No matter the circumstances, hope is the illuminator in darkness–hope is the path we walk when no road exists.
“Goodness Will Be Goodness” by KM
Tyrants will roar their victories,
painting red dreams
on the lids of the nation—
And kindness will be kindness.
Sharp-spooned greed
will scoop out the soft places
leaving only hunger—
and mercy will be mercy.
Fear will cry its hot misguided wrath,
shocking sleepers into dread—
and courage will be courage.
Brutality will shake its tiny fist
gloved thick with power;
people will be killed in shameful ways,
the storms of grief and rage will howl—
and goodness will be goodness.
In the end, no matter the deceit,
no matter how compelling,
we can’t be broken from our truest selves—
we always circle back around
and find our honor where we left it.
Our people, our whole world’s people,
our many-colored threads
stretched tight in warp and weft
between that which knows
its own goodness
and that which does not—
will claim the land again for our children
and the enemy’s children, too,
mending finally all the tears
in the cloth of who we once
and still so dream of being.
In closing, if you need free groceries, please visit Find Food in My City – Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano at https://www.foodbankccs.org/find-food/foodbycity/ Use the map or the Food Distribution Sites Listed by City tab at the bottom of the page to find a location or call 855-309-FOOD (3663).
We thank you again for all that you have done in the past to support our mission: To provide support, outreach, education, and advocacy to individuals living with and families impacted by mental illness.
Sincerely,
Gigi R.Crowder
CEO