A series of recent and upcoming budget blows to the Redwood Empire Food Bank here in the North Bay have left “the region’s largest hunger relief organization having to figure out how to make up the difference,” in the words of the Press Democrat. Most notably, Redwood Empire Food Bank officials halted all egg distributions last week — a strategic cost-cutting measure to “better steward economic resources” as their federal and state income shrinks and egg prices remain ridiculous.

Every day of the week, you can find crews from Redwood Empire Food Bank distributing groceries and other essential goods to those in need at hundreds of locations across Sonoma, Lake, Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte counties. (A full schedule of distribution times and locations is available on their website.) Trump and Musk’s federal cost-cutting spree first hit Redwood Empire about a week-and-a-half ago, in the form of $750,000, or 155,000 pounds, in suspended food shipments.

At the time, I reached out to the food bank’s head of communications, Rachelle Mesheau, asking how food distribution in our area might be affected by this federal decision. She said the cuts posed a huge obstacle, but seemed confident that Redwood would find ways to make up the difference. Rachelle sent me the following statement:

The federal cuts are indeed a significant challenge, as we were anticipating $700,000 worth of food over the next few months that will no longer be available to us. Despite this setback, we remain committed to providing food to our community in Healdsburg and the surrounding areas. While the cancellation… is disappointing, we are encouraged by the recent announcement of Section 32 bonus buys and are hopeful that the current administration will maintain and create safety net programs for food assistance, especially as more people than ever are seeking help.

This shift means we will need to acquire more food independently to maintain a balanced mix of nutritious offerings. The increased reliance on purchasing food is putting pressure on local markets and raising costs, which will necessitate additional support from donors to meet the growing need. With demand for food assistance rising due to inflation and reduced federal support, the challenge of addressing food insecurity is becoming more acute. Adjustments in our operations and increased fundraising efforts will be necessary to ensure we can continue providing sufficient and nutritious food to those in need, and we remain committed to serving our community effectively despite these challenges.

However! Soon after I spoke to Rachelle, the budget outlook became more dire — this time, thanks to impending state cuts — and food bank officials made the difficult decision to nix eggs, an important source of protein for many of the 140,000-plus locals fed by Redwood Empire.

So why is the state doing this? Here’s an explanation form Stocktonia, a local paper in Stockton: “For several years when the state had a record surplus, it devoted millions of additional dollars to a state program called CalFood that allows food banks to purchase from local farmers or food producers such as tortillerias. Those boosts gave food banks about $60 million a year through CalFood over the past three years; in the budget Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed for the fiscal year that starts in July, that funding would revert to $8 million.” So in other words, post-Covid relief funding has dried up, as it has for so many services.

And things could get worse before they get better. The North Bay Business Journal reports: “Also at risk is CalFresh, which serves as California’s version of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the federal food assistance program for low-income households. SNAP is also in jeopardy, as Congress debates its fate and the next version of the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill.”

To help offset all this gouging, you can donate directly to the Redwood Empire Food Bank (or volunteer your time) via their website.

Note from Simone: This piece originally appeared in the weekly email newsletter I write for the Bohemian, called Wine Country Today. Subscribe here!

It’s hard to remember the last time we saw this many protests popping up across the North Bay! In the three months since Donald Trump became U.S. president and let Tesla CEO Elon Musk loose on the federal budget, locals have increasingly been hitting the streets to air their discontent with early moves from the current administration. (Including sweeping budget cuts, layoffs, deportations, tariffs and other severe policy shifts.) Here in Sonoma and Napa counties, people have been showing up to march and shout in front of local politicians’ town halls, Tesla dealerships, federal buildings and other communal gathering spaces.

For instance, on President’s Day in mid-February, hundreds rallied in both Santa Rosa and Napa for local versions of nationwide the “Not My President’s Day” protests, also called “No Kings Day.” But the turnout that day was nothing compared to yesterday, when thousands of fed-up locals staged demonstrations for a national day of action called “Hands Off!” According to the Associated Press, more than 150 groups staged “Hands Off! rallies” at than 1,200-plus locations in all 50 states.

This was the rally cry from the “Hands Off!” website: “Donald Trump and Elon Musk think this country belongs to them. They’re taking everything they can get their hands on, and daring the world to stop them. On Saturday, April 5th, we’re taking to the streets nationwide to fight back with a clear message: Hands off!”

Here in our area, the Indivisible Sonoma County group (and its small-town offshoots, like Indivisible Healdsburg and Indivisible Cloverdale) played a big role in bringing people out. The Press Democrat reports that large rallies were held yesterday in nearly a dozen local towns — Calistoga, Guerneville, Sebastopol, Sonoma (~3,000 protesters), Napa (~1,000 protesters marching over downtown river bridges), etc. — before the big kahuna culminated in Santa Rosa’s Old Courthouse Square from 3-5pm, alongside the farmers market.

The PD estimates around 5,000 people attended the Santa Rosa rally yesterday. From what I’ve heard, while the scene was somewhat chaotic, it was peaceful overall — and the mood was upbeat, even jovial. My mom was in attendance, and told me afterward: “It was such good energy. Everyone was just busting to be able to get out there and say something. You could feel it — so happy.”

So aside from the whole “Hands Off!” thing, the biggest local anti-Trump and anti-Musk movement has come in the form of weekly protests at various Tesla dealerships around here. (Again, the local version of a larger national movement called “Tesla Takedown.”) In Santa Rosa, the regular Saturday protests outside the Tesla showroom on Airway Drive were drawing around 100 people in February, then a few hundred in March — and they’re now reportedly topping 500 protesters per week. A parallel protest at the Tesla outpost in Sebastopol has been pushing 100 each Saturday, too.

For more on the nationwide uprising against Tesla, check out this recent Los Angeles Times story: “Tesla’s steep fall from California’s green darling to hated target of protests, violence, fires.” And our local paper of record, the Press Democrat, has been diving deep into Tesla ownership numbers in the North Bay and how Tesla drivers around here are dealing with the pressure to sell.

Here are some of the zingiest slogans I’ve seen on homemade protest signs so far, at all these various local demonstrations:

• “Ikea has better cabinets”
• “End the Turd Reich”
• “Do not buy a swasti-kar from this fascist clown”
• “Deport Musk”
• “Fire Musk and his Musk-rats”
• “Trumpy makes me grumpy”
• “So much wrong, so little cardboard”
• “Get your little hands off our democracy”
• “Make Amerika a democracy again”
• “Do not obey the dick-tator”
• “Left turn only”
• “DOGE OMG WTF”
• “Greenland for California: Yes please” (referring to this whole debacle)
• “Tax the rich” (oldie but a goodie…)
• “Burn your Tesla” (see below!)

The next big action coming up, aside from the ongoing Tesla Takedown protests, will be an elaborate “End Tax Injustice” caravan and rally spree on Tuesday, April 15 —aka, Tax Day! — at post offices across Sonoma County. (You know, for all of us not scrambling to turn in their taxes last-minute that day.) Looks like this action is being organized by Sonoma County Democratic Party officials. They say on Facebook:

The Federal TAX CODE is corrupt. Too many fail to pay their fair share and ordinary Americans pay the price.

Caravans will form at different points in Sonoma County at Post Offices along the way to Santa Rosa and rally at each one, then head to the next designated Post Office. You can choose to:

• Join a caravan heading to the Santa Rosa Main Post Office (decorate your vehicle!)

• Attend one or all rallies along the caravan route

• Meet up at the end of the day for a final mass rally in SR

Note from Simone: This piece originally appeared in the weekly email newsletter I write for the Bohemian, called Wine Country Today. Subscribe here!