Category: Stories

Queen’s Story | Grateful for CalFresh

August 2, 2019

71-year-old Queen shows off her wide, regal smile – befitting her name – as she emerges from the Career Link Center in San Francisco’s Mission District.  She was scheduled for an appointment in this county office recently, to learn more about the new state program giving SSI recipients access to CalFresh benefits for the first time ever.

“Even 25 extra dollars will mean a lot to me,” she says as she looks over her paperwork in anticipation of her appointment.

It’s been a difficult time for this single expat from the tiny western African nation of The Gambia.  She moved to San Francisco more than ten years ago – hoping to make a big splash by opening up her own clothing boutique with authentic items from her homeland.  Shortly after arriving though, Queen had to have major knee surgery, and was also diagnosed with glaucoma around the same time. Both ailments sent her spiraling into a deep depression.  She couldn’t work, and before she knew it, she found herself surviving on less than a thousand dollars every month in SSI benefits.  Access to healthy food was hard to come by, leading to days and weeks when she wasn’t eating much. Queen was starting to really worry about her health.

Life got a little more bearable when Queen found housing at Bethany Center – a housing center for senior citizens in the Mission District.  She quickly enrolled at a nearby Food Bank pantry, healthy eating resumed, and that lead to Queen feeling the difference.  “I wasn’t smiling very much before…and my energy level was very low, but I feel stronger and I think it’s because of all the great food I get at the pantry.”

Now Queen is ready for access to even more food after learning that she’s eligible to receive 50 dollars in CalFresh benefits each month. “I heard I could stretch my dollars even further at the farmers market through the “Market Match” program.” she said.  “Being able to pick up even more healthy fruits and vegetables to make sure I never go hungry again makes me very grateful.”

 

Food Bank Innovations | Addressing College Hunger

June 10, 2019

For young people, college can be a stressful whirlwind of unknowns: wondering which classes to take and activities to join, or how to balance earning a little money while making enough time to study. How to afford your next meal shouldn’t be an unanswered question.

But for thousands of students right here in San Francisco and Marin, food insecurity is a daily challenge.

The Food Bank first connected with advocates at San Francisco State University in 2016, when professors and campus health services began seeing more students suffering from lightheadedness, headaches, and weakness from not having enough food. Soon after, our first college pantries launched to ensure that students always have enough food to stay healthy and focus on learning. After all, it’s nearly impossible to take on life’s challenges with an empty stomach.

A HEALTHY MENU FOR BUSY STUDENTS

Elina, a political science major at Dominican University in San Rafael, commutes 40 miles to campus every day from her home in Santa Rosa — a drive that can take two hours each way. She started coming to the pantry in the fall of 2018.  “A lot of my downtime isn’t actually downtime — it’s driving time between school and home, so that doesn’t leave a lot of extra time to find food,” Elina says. “I have a friend here who had to live in her car because she couldn’t afford housing. The pantry has been a big deal to students like me.”

Many students like Elina either don’t have time to cook or don’t have access to full kitchens. That’s why our college pantry menu is designed for students on the go: fresh produce, canned protein, granola bars, bread for sandwiches, and bottled juice or sparkling water. It’s been a huge hit.  “Sometimes I pick up really great veggies – like carrots – which allows me to skip that trip to the grocery store, which saves me time and money.   But today I totally forgot to pack a lunch, so I came by and was able to pick up some healthy protein bars that will last me a week!”

SERVING NEARLY EVERY COLLEGE CAMPUS IN OUR SERVICE AREA 

We now serve nearly 1,000 hungry students every week at five college pantries through partnerships with student organizations at San Francisco State University, College of Marin, UCSF Parnassus, Dominican University, and City College of San Francisco.  Coming soon we will be establishing pantries at University of San Francisco and the San Francisco Art Institute.  And it’s not just healthy food that we deliver ever week.  Students get tips and recipes for preparing healthy meals, and also have access to CalFresh (food stamps) enrollment assistance at these institutions

Jacques Story | A Changing Economy Makes It Harder To Make Ends Meet

June 8, 2019

Each morning, Jacques rises early, gets ready for the day, and takes his 10-year-old daughter, Shaila, to school. As a single dad, Jacques cares for Shaila and his 80-year-old mother.  Mondays are especially busy, but in a good way.  When Jacques drops off Shaila at Dolores Huerta Elementary School, she heads for her classroom and her father heads for the Food Bank’s Health Children pantry near the campus play yard.

“If I open up the fridge on a Sunday and nothing is in there, then I have to make sure to put something in there,” he says.

It didn’t use to be like this.  Jacques was a mortgage broker until the 2008 recession made it hard to find work in real estate.  He now drives for a ridesharing company in addition to juggling several other jobs to make ends meet.  “I’ve been [in San Francisco] for a while, and I’ve never seen poverty like I’ve seen in the past couple of years,” says Jacques.

KEEPING FAMILY AT THE CENTER

Shaila is a bright girl, at the top of her class, and Jacques wants to ensure that she has no limits to her future ambitions — which currently range from being a pop star to a police officer to a vet. Once Shaila is at school, Jacques starts driving for the ridesharing company until it’s time to pick her up. He then takes her home to her grandmother while he heads out for more driving until dinner, a special time that Jacques never misses. It’s a central part of their family’s routine; a time to share about their day, a time to connect and enjoy a nutritious meal.  “I ask her about her day, and try to be present as a father because that’s so important,” he says. Often, he has to go back out for more driving after his daughter goes to bed.

STRUGGLING IN A HIGH-COST CITY

As he drives, Jacques thinks about how to provide for his family, and what they will have to eat for the next day and week. The weight of his role as the sole earner is heavy in a costly city like San Francisco.  Jacques and his mother plan out their meals for the week, usually starting on Monday when he comes home with a big box of groceries from the pantry. “This pantry has been great,” he says. “It’s been a life saver and eye opener. I needed it because food is so expensive.”  For Jacques and his family, the groceries they receive from the Food Bank help to fill the gap as he works hard to make ends meet. He says, “Thank you for taking care of me and so many people like me who are really trying to do the right thing but who are having a hard time making it.”

Blanca’s Story | SF Survival

June 6, 2019

Monday mornings have a reputation for being kind of a drag.  Many of us rush around in an effort to get the work week – or school week – off to a good start, and things can sometimes get hectic.

Food Bank participant Blanca certainly does her fair share of rushing around, getting her kids off to three different schools in San Francisco’s Glen Park neighborhood. But Monday has become a day she enjoys because after dropping off her daughter at Dolores Huerta Elementary School, Blanca heads straight for our weekly food pantry, located right on campus near the school’s playground.

“My oldest eats a lot – he’s 6 feet tall – so it’s hard to keep him happy and full,” Blanca says. “The other kids are big eaters too.  But we manage, partly because of the groceries we get here every week.”

Blanca is a stay-at-home mom for now.  Her husband is a painter and makes what she describes as a decent wage – but not necessarily enough to get by in San Francisco. Some months are harder than others, but Blanca’s family always seems to get by with a little help from the Food Bank.

“Oh my goodness!  It’s not even a joke how hard it is to survive in this city right now,” she exclaims. “There is enough food here every week to provide several days worth of meals, allowing us to save our money to pay for other things that are important, like clothes and medicine.”

As Blanca walks through the pantry, she finds several items that she likes and puts them in her bag.  As she holds up a package of fresh asparagus, she explains, “We bake this in the oven so they stay crunchy. We also really like the potatoes; we turn those into baked potatoes and fried potatoes.”

Blanca is certain that her family, and many more in the neighborhood, would suffer greatly if it weren’t for the Monday morning pantry offerings.  “Thank you for helping all low-income families in this neighborhood and this city…it really does make a difference.”

 

Ana’s Story | For The Children

February 21, 2019

The early morning sun was just starting to shine through the windows of the multipurpose room at Daniel Webster Elementary School in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill neighborhood, but that couldn’t hide the smile on Ana’s face. The mother of two was picking up groceries at the Food Bank’s weekly Healthy Children Pantry at her daughter’s school when she came upon something she didn’t quite expect.

“Take a look at this honey – there’s fish today!” she said to her youngest daughter, 4-year-old Genesis. “Yes, fish! Bring it on!”

Ana has been coming to the pantry at Daniel Webster since her 7-year-old older Xochitl was in kindergarten – not out of choice, but out of necessity. “Especially living in a place like San Francisco with high rent, sometimes it’s like ‘if we pay rent we don’t eat’ … and unfortunately, that shouldn’t be that way. But that’s how things are right now.”

WORKING LONG HOURS

Not being able to get ahead isn’t for a lack of trying.  Ana’s husband puts in long hours as a construction worker. She’s working hard too, volunteering at the school in the mornings before heading off to her full-time nonprofit job, then returning to school to get her girls. She spends many evenings volunteering with the school’s PTA and ELAC – English Learners Advisory Committee.  “I do it all because I don’t care about just my children, but all children in the school and the district,” Ana says.

SAVING FOR KIDS’ EDUCATION

She hopes for a day when rents aren’t so high in the city, allowing all families to thrive.  Until then, she’s glad for the little things, like finding fresh fish at our Healthy Children Pantry and fresh fruits that make her young daughters smile when they bite into them.  To her, it’s about making sure her kids live a better life than hers.

“This pantry helps us save money, especially with the housing crisis. I mean look at this milk,” she says, pointing to the gallon she’ll take home today. “It would probably cost $6, and the fish would probably cost about $20.  We know this all adds up every month to big savings that I hope I can use for a healthier future for my kids.”

Camp Fire Relief | Bay Area Food Assistance Continues

January 28, 2019

“I got up that morning at 8:30 and looked outside and it was pitch black,” said Jean Bauman, a retiree who lived in Paradise, California. “I went back into the bedroom and I said to my husband Jim, ‘You’ve got to get out of bed.'”

At first, Jim and Jean were hoping the Camp Fire would be contained before reaching their small home. What they didn’t know was that the raging inferno was devouring an entire football field of land every second.

IT WAS TOO LATE

An hour later, fiery chunks of debris were pelting the couple’s home. When it was all over, they were left with nothing but their brick chimney and charred sludge and debris. “We lost fifty years of everything in that house,” Jean said. “It’s numbing.” The couple is now navigating insurance to begin rebuilding their house and their lives.

Help has arrived in the form of weekly food distributions, bolstered by weekly deliveries from Bay Area food banks that have been providing tons (literally) of fresh groceries every week.

“We had a suspicion that once things settled down in Paradise, that the community was going to need some food assistance,” said Barbara Abbott, Food Resources Director at the Food Bank.  “The call eventually came in December, and we have been sending full truckloads of fresh produce, protein, beverages and snacks ever since.”

THANKFUL FOR FULL BELLIES

The food assistance is starting to make a difference, helping people like Martin and Ashley feed themselves, as well as their two young children, Lilliana and Rylee.

Martin moved his family from Kansas to Paradise to help with his ailing mother after she recently suffered a stroke. And while the family didn’t lose any property in the fire, they did lose stability. Martin was due to start a logging job the day the Camp Fire started. Logging jobs have since dried up and now the family finds itself visiting the food distribution site in nearby Chico to help provide nourishment until things get better.

“The food got us through,” Ashley said. “It’s been filling in the gaps.”

While Martin hasn’t found a job yet, he’s still searching every day and he’s confident he’ll find something soon.   “It’s a lot easier to go to sleep and focus on finding a job when you know your kids aren’t hungry,” he said. “We’re thankful for having full bellies.”

Tackling College Hunger | Annie’s Story

December 20, 2018

Some college students talk about the “Freshman 15,” and gaining weight when starting school. But for other students, the financial burden of tuition and books often means going hungry.  In fact, the US Government Accountability Office released a report recently that quantifies how large a problem college hunger has become.

Annie is one such student who struggles to feed herself many weeks out of the year. She’s studying at UCSF for a health care career and utilizes the Food Bank’s campus pantry. “The market has revolutionized my routine,” says Annie. “I exclusively get my food here. I’m eating healthier and wouldn’t be getting my fruits and veggies otherwise.

“Food insecurity is very real if you don’t come from a family that can provide you with a weekly stipend. Having all this debt, you’re kind of in crisis mode all the time. Many students only eat one meal a day. You can’t study; you’re stressed out all the time; and it has traumatic effects on your body.

“I am undyingly grateful to the Food Bank donors. Because of your generosity, I’m able to eat healthier, take care of myself, and give back by caring for patients. Thank you for investing in my health, so I can invest in the health of others.”

Food Bank Partners | Family House

October 31, 2018

When Felicita Diaz first arrived at Family House in San Francisco, the last thing she was thinking about was food.  She had just admitted her daughter to UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, where she was being treated for a serious and rare autoimmune disease.

It had been long day, and truth be told, Felicita didn’t even know she was hungry. But when she walked into the community kitchen at Family House, she found it stocked with canned food, boxes of pasta, and fresh fruit, too – everything she needed to put together a nourishing meal.

Family House is one of 450 nonprofits that the Food Bank partners with to provide food for instances just like this – when neighbors are facing a life crisis and need a helping hand. Based near the hospital’s Mission Bay campus, Family House is a state-of-the-art home away from home that provides free housing and support to families whose children are undergoing medical care.

“I was so caught up with all the things I needed to do to help my daughter that I forgot to feed myself,” Felicita says. “I walked into the kitchen, opened up the cupboard, and found everything I needed to make myself a nice meal of rice and beans. Having this food on hand is so helpful. It gives me a little extra time to concentrate on my daughter instead of shopping.”

Paul Goold, Director of Family Services, keeps the Family House kitchens stocked with groceries that he picks up from the Food Bank warehouse, just a few blocks away.

“The Food Bank has been an incredible partner to Family House,” Goold says. “Nonprofits in our community achieve the most when we collaborate. The Food Bank partnership with us is a perfect example of that – we are able to provide a full range of services that sustain our families so they can care for their children.”

 

 

Mike’s Story | From Homeless to Hopeful | VIDEO

October 25, 2018

Mike is a volunteer and former participant at our Food Bank pantry on Treasure Island. He credits the Food Bank and his relationships at the pantry for helping him transform his life – watch the video below and see how Mike has overcome homelessness, found work, and is now building hope for the future.

 

 

Toby’s Story | Not Our Forever Situation

October 20, 2018

When you think of Tiburon, you probably think of multi-million dollar homes and gorgeous views from this bayside Marin County town. Or perhaps what comes to mind are chic cafes and boutique shops that dot the quaint streets as luxury cars pass by. What you probably don’t think about is the very real hunger problem that exists in this wealthy enclave just north of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Nestled about halfway between Highway 101 and Tiburon’s tony downtown is the Hilarita Apartment complex, one of several subsidized housing facilities in the area. It is home to about 100 families, including 25-year-old Toby and his mom. After graduating from the College of Marin with a degree in chemistry, Toby moved back home to help his ailing mother while he looks for his first “real job.”

Toby’s mother has a chronic hip problem, and for now, the two are living on her disability and social security benefits. After paying rent, there isn’t much money left to spend, even for essentials like food. Toby was “blown away” when he learned that the Food Bank was opening a food pantry at Hilarita this past spring, and says it has really saved him and his mom, at an especially vulnerable time.

“The pantry helps out a lot, because I’m still looking for work. So there’s the financial issue,” Toby says. “Eventually I’m going to get a job – hopefully something in biotech – so this isn’t our forever situation. But until then, every little bit helps. To some people, the money we save on groceries might seem insignificant, but for me and my mom, it makes a big difference.”

Since April of 2018, more than 30 families like Toby’s are able to pick up fresh groceries at the Hilarita pantry every week – fresh vegetables and fruits, protein like chicken drumsticks, and grains. These items help stretch dollars so residents can pay their rent, PG&E bills and buy medicine.

“The food pantry also helps us to stay in touch with the community. I like to see my neighbors – some of them anyway,” Toby says with a laugh. “Tuesday is a day to come down here to say hello, to check in with everybody. We see how they’re doing and then head home with fresh food for the week.”

As an added bonus, they pantry has encouraged Toby to make healthier food choices too:  “I actually started eating carrots again because of this place” he says.  “I used to eat them as a boy, so I grabbed some the other day, and now I’m back to eating carrots all the time as snacks.”

Hilarita residents, many of whom are low income, have been asking about a pantry for more than two years, but issues with the property managers made collaborating with the site difficult. Then the nonprofit ‘EAH Housing’ took over and committed to making the pantry a reality. “It took some extra perseverance,” says Food Bank pantry liaison Edith Cadena, “but when we finally opened up our doors it was real source of pride, not just for myself, but other food bankers, and especially the residents.”