Category: Stories

Monet’s Story | CalFresh Helps Busy College Student Thrive

September 22, 2017

Monet is a full-time student at San Francisco State with a double major. She’s got dreams of starting a nonprofit to help inner city youth overcome their challenges as she once did.

From the time she was 13, Monet took care of her two younger brothers as her divorced parents struggled to put food on the table. She attributes those responsibilities to her motivation to succeed today.

“We all need to survive,” says Monet. “But we can’t just set up camp in our struggle. We have to strive to do better.”

Right now, Monet juggles a full class load with a full-time job to put herself through school. But with the skyrocketing cost of housing, she has trouble making ends meet.

“Sometimes I thin out my food and eat just rice to pay for basic necessities,” she says. “And I don’t have any money to put in my savings for emergencies.”

Enter the CalFresh Outreach Team, which recently helped Monet secure CalFresh (food stamps) as well as connect her to our pantry at SF State. In addition to food distribution, the Food Bank also works to ensure that people are able to take full advantage of the federal food assistance programs available to them. With CalFresh, Monet can buy food at her regular grocery store and supplement what she gets there with fresh produce and staples from the pantry located on her campus.

“Hunger should never stand in the way of a student’s education,” said Francesca Costa, CalFresh Outreach Program Manager. “By helping Monet and other students focus on their studies instead of where their next meal is coming from, we are investing in their success in school and in life.”

Monet said that the Food Bank helped lift a weight off her shoulders. Wise beyond her years, Monet views her situation as an opportunity: “It’s challenging to survive on my own. But it brings growth.

“Taking care of myself financially, mentally, being on top of school, and being on time for work is a lot. But receiving food has helped, so I don’t have to worry about where I’m going to get grocery money. I’m so grateful for the Food Bank.”

Click here to learn more about CalFresh and how you can sign up for benefits.

Click here to read about our College Pantries.

Take Action

Right now, the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP – called CalFresh in California)  is at risk of federal budget cuts. Will you take just a minute to add your name to our letter to our California legislators, urging them to protect and defend funding for SNAP? Click here to add your name.

Over 60,000 people in San Francisco and Marin Counties rely on the to buy food for themselves and their families each and every week. Without the SNAP program, low-income neighbors, who are already struggling to make ends meet, would go hungry.

2017 Community Partner Honoree | Gary Maxworthy

September 19, 2017

After spending much of his adult life leading a Bay Area-based food distribution company, Gary Maxworthy suffered through a tragedy.  It was 1994, he was 56 years old, and his first wife died.  As the grief slowly began to subside, Gary’s three children came together and suggested a change.  They wanted him to do something with his life that would strengthen his community.  Gary agreed and soon joined AmeriCorps as a VISTA volunteer. His first and only assignment was with the San Francisco Food Bank. His mission: to think of ways to address the growing problem of hunger.

This was at a time when food banks were distributing mostly boxed and canned non-perishable foods.  Gary had an inkling of an idea that not only would increase the amount of food we distributed, but also to provide tons of fresh, healthy produce for our participants.  He started reaching out to his old food distribution contacts – growers and packers up and down California – and asked if they would be willing to donate their extra produce to the Food Bank.  The initiative was called Farm to Family.

Eventually the idea took off.  Now, nearly two decades later Farm to Family serves a statewide network of 43 food banks, providing 180 million pounds of fresh produce every year.  Six-hundred thousand Californians are nourished by this food every week.  Just last year, Farm to Family delivered its one billionth pound of fresh produce!

While Farm to Family would be enough to make someone a “Food Hero,” Gary went beyond all of that.  He has been revered for his innovative spirit, his leadership, and his mentoring of Food Bank employees.

Gary announced his second retirement earlier this year, but before he could ride off into the sunset, he was chosen as the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank’s 2017 Community Partner Honoree for his incredible legacy and contribution to food banking, not just locally, but around the nation.

Watch Gary’s tribute video above.  And listen to Gary, in his own words, in this recent KQED Perspectives piece.

Food Bank Innovations | Food Pharmacies

August 9, 2017

He’s really not one to gloat, but for the first time in a long time 39-year-old San Francisco resident Julio says he’s feeling healthy.

“I’m hoping to live a long life for my two kids and my infant granddaughter, and I have the Food Bank to thank for that.”

Julio has “pre-diabetes” which means if he doesn’t start making changes to his diet, he’s a candidate to develop Type 2 Diabetes. His doctor recently referred him to the Silver Avenue Family Health Clinic, in the city’s Visitacion Valley neighborhood. There, the Food Bank and the San Francisco Health Network (SFHN) partnered this year to open up a new program centered on healthy, nutritious food called Food Pharmacies.

Julio says he came in weighing more than 270 lbs, and a blood pressure reading of 190 over 102. Several weeks later, and he’s dropped a few pounds, and saw his blood pressure drop considerably. “I finally feel like I’m on the right path to good health.”

Alicia Hobbs organizes the program at Silver Avenue and says the idea is to use food as medicine in a new regimen aimed at patients with health challenges, such as diabetes and hypertension. “We’re not just introducing patients to healthy food…we’re teaching them how to cook this food in the healthiest way possible. Perhaps most importantly, we’re trying to create a community where these patients feel supported every step of the way.”

Along with the food, patients have access to weekly health screenings, one-on-one consultations with Registered Dietitians, and referrals to additional resources like CalFresh.

James Stancil helps coordinate the Food Pharmacy and is also a patient. “I’ve been on the program for several weeks now, and I can tell you that I’m now being taken off of some of my meds.  My health has improved that much…this program is definitely going to save some lives.”

UCSF Clinical Professor, Dr. Rita Nguyen is overseeing the program for the SFHN and says “Addressing these barriers is key to the Network’s priorities of delivering high-quality care for diverse populations and addressing health disparities. Clinic staff and patients have been really enthusiastic about this new programming which would not have been possible without our wonderful partnership with the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank.”

Food Bank Director of Programs, Sheila Kopf couldn’t be happier to be partnering on such an innovative new program. “Good nutrition is essential for good health, and by working with these health care providers, we are building connections for patients to food assistance, which can improve their health outcomes for years to come.”

The plan is for the Food Bank and the San Francisco Health Network to open up five more Food Pharmacies in the city by the summer of 2018 and serve more than 200 patients.

We never stop innovating!  Support our Food Pharmacies and other new programs by donating today.

 

Healthy Children | Monday is Pantry Day

July 28, 2017

Later this month, it’s back to school for thousands of children all over the Bay Area.  A great many will likely groan when they hear the “Brapp! Brapp! Brapp!” of the alarm clock, but 9-year-old Za’niya is quite the opposite.  The incoming fourth grader at John Muir Elementary School in San Francisco actually looks forward to getting up early – especially on Mondays.  You see, Monday is pantry day at her school.  It’s when Za’Niya rises at 6am and helps her Great Aunt Jeanette, and her two cousins, Jayden and Jamire, set up the Healthy Children Pantry in the school’s cafeteria. Serving about 50 families every week, John Muir is one of 46 schools in San Francisco and Marin that partner with the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank to host pantries for students and families throughout the school year.

“Six o’clock is kinda early, but it’s okay because I know we’re helping out a lot of people who don’t have enough food at home to eat,” says Za’Niya, as she maneuvers a box of produce on a table in the school’s multi-purpose room.

Za’Niya is partial to the apples that find their way to the pantry: “They’re sweet and I really like it.  I put them in my backpack or my jacket pocket and eat it at recess.”

Jeanette has volunteered as the pantry coordinator for a few years, motivated by the need she sees among the families who attend John Muir. Almost 90 percent of the students are eligible for the free and reduced-price lunch program.

Now that she’s retired, Jeanette finds it increasingly difficult to stretch her budget to cover living expenses. “It used to be that I would pass on taking food from the pantry. I would leave it for other families because I felt like they needed it more,” she says. “But now, I’m finding that my own Social Security checks aren’t covering all the bills. My family is also struggling, so I take a box of food from the pantry too – some for me, but mostly to make sure Za’Niya and her cousins have good food to eat at home.”

For busy families, accessing fresh, healthy food right on campus, just before the bell rings on Monday mornings, is a great help.

Ryan Lawler, Kindergarten teacher says, “It’s hard for a lot of our families; some work two or three jobs. They’re trying to get their kids ready in the morning, to get them on the bus, to get them here to school on time. So with the pantry right here at school, our parents have a convenient, reliable source of food to sustain their families all week long.”

Last year, about 4,000 families were served by Healthy Children Pantries like the one at John Muir Elementary. These farmers’ market-style pantries provide low-income parents with fresh fruits and vegetables, lean protein such as chicken or eggs, and pantry staples like rice and beans.

Please give today to help parents provide their children with the food they need to stay healthy and thrive.

 

Home-Delivered Groceries | Food & Friendship Door to Door

June 12, 2017

For many of our most vulnerable neighbors, food is more than the difference between an empty plate and a full stomach. It is also a lifeline – especially for neighbors who participate in the Food Bank’s Home-Delivered Groceries (HDG) Program.

For a closer look at the Home-Delivered Groceries program “in motion”, check out this video, taken at City Hope Community Center in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood, featuring a beloved participant by the name of Susan who is visually impaired.

Then there’s the story of Marianne, who says the weekly delivery of fresh groceries she receives from the Food Bank is a life saver. She lives in a single-room-occupancy (SRO) hotel in San Francisco’s SOMA neighborhood and struggles with many health challenges.

“I’m disabled and have a hard time getting around, so being able to get my hands on this food at home is literally saving my life,” she said.

Before enrolling, Marianne recalls it was a constant battle to get enough food to eat.  “I couldn’t feed myself. Thankfully neighbors would offer me meals every once in a while. But there were days when it was really scary just how hungry I was.”

Marianne is one of 1,400 people enrolled in the Food Bank’s Home-Delivered Groceries Program, which assists low-income seniors and adults with disabilities who are unable to get out to pick up groceries, but still able to prepare meals for themselves.

The goals of the program are to provide supplemental nutrition to neighbors in need, to reduce loneliness, and to check on the well-being of our homebound residents.

HDG Program Director Andy Burns recalls one volunteer who had been delivering groceries to a senior for more than a year.  “Of course she’s performing a check in with this gentleman each week to make sure he’s doing okay.  At one point, the volunteer became ill, and had to be hospitalized.  While she was recuperating, the participant became so concerned for her that he started calling her to check on how she was doing!”

On this particular Tuesday afternoon, the knock on Marianne’s door comes right on time, as she is busy preparing a crockpot stew and needs fresh carrots to make the meal sing. In addition to carrots, this particular delivery included apples, chicken, rice and other staples that will nourish Marianne until her next weekly delivery.

Home-Delivered groceries are also a treat for the volunteers on Marianne’s route – a team of developmentally disabled adults who are enrolled at the Pomeroy Recreation and Rehabilitation Center, where they learn work and life skills. On Tuesday mornings, the volunteers work together to pack these grocery bags, then they head out in the afternoon to make deliveries to 13 neighbors.

Pomeroy’s LouBee Zielinski coordinates the program and says the volunteers are thrilled to help. “They love the looks on peoples’ faces when the groceries arrive. And, to be empowered with something like providing food for others – that’s huge.  It’s like Christmas every week, and we get to be Santa Claus!”

In addition to the Pomeroy Center, there are eight other nonprofits which partner with the Food Bank’s HDG Program, but more partners are needed. For more information on our Home-Delivered Groceries program, how it operates, and how you can get involved, click here.

 

Hunger on Campus

June 9, 2017

It used to be a joke, or even a badge of honor for some – the tale of the starving college student who survived by eating ramen noodles morning, noon and night. Or the thrifty sophomore who bought a 10-pound bag of potatoes and made it last a month.

Horace Montgomery, Director of the Associated Students program at San Francisco State, has heard them all, and he isn’t laughing.

“There is this perception that if you make it to college, and you have housing and your classes, that you’re fine. But it’s just not true,” Montgomery says. “We have many hungry students on this campus, and it’s affecting their school work, their lives and their futures.”

Enter the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank. Partnering with Associated Students, we set up a pantry on the Northwest side of campus in February – our very first one on a college campus. Within just a few days of opening registration, the 100 participant slots were filled. Plans are in the works to double the pantry’s reach by the fall semester.

The pantry arrived not a moment too soon, with so much research out there that suggests hunger can adversely affect studying habits and physical well-being on college campuses. Amie Williams is Director of the school’s Health Promotion and Wellness program and says they figure that 1 in 3 students on campus is food insecure “and when you’re at a 30,000 institution level, you’re talking about a lot of students with hunger issues.”

Pre-med student Mayrane talks about the constant struggle to make ends meet, especially in San Francisco where everything is so expensive.

“There was a month not too long ago when I was eating once or maybe twice a day, just because I couldn’t afford to buy food after paying all of my other expenses.”

She calls the Food Bank’s new pantry a godsend. The big bag of groceries she gets from the new pantry helps to get her through her busy week. “I love all the fresh fruit, especially because I really want to eat better and feel healthier.”

 

Isaac | A Father’s Journey

May 31, 2017

Watch our Senior Order Builder, Isaac in action in our San Francisco warehouse. Hear about his past struggles, and learn about his commitment to giving back in this short video.

At 4am, Isaac arrives at the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank warehouse.  It’s the start of his shift – putting together food orders for our 450 community partners. Operations are buzzing as warehouse staff are off-loading food donations from farms, food companies, and distributors.

Isaac gazes around at what he describes as “a ballet of forklifts.” The heavy machines are at once sturdy and graceful, and the skillful drivers zip up and down the three-story aisles, spin, and drop pallets with precision and finesse. They beep their horns when they WHIZ into the main lanes to let the other workers know they’re coming. If you’re not careful, you could easily get run over, or slow the perfect synchronicity of this mechanical dance.

Isaac has an extra special reason for getting it right when he’s on the forklift.  He was once a Food Bank participant, and knows what it means to be hungry. Like many of our participants, Isaac had a period of being out of work. He relied on general assistance of $300 and food stamps of $80 per month to feed him and his young son. “There were some days I’d starve just to make sure my son had something to eat,” he says. Once he discovered the Food Bank, it was a big help.

Now as an employee, Isaac says, “I feel good giving back, as I’ve been on both sides. Our work is helping so many families that were just like mine. I know that we’re making a difference, and I’m proud to be a part of it.”

Betania’s Story | A Better Life

May 31, 2017

It’s been said that all mothers have one true wish — to see their children grow and thrive. You can count San Francisco resident Betania among them, although her pathway to realizing this wish has more obstacles than most.

The single mother left her home in El Salvador a few months ago with hopes of building a better life for her children in the U.S.  As her family strives adapt to a new culture and Betania looks for  work, they are staying with an aunt who lives in San Francisco’s Excelsior neighborhood.

“It’s very difficult to be living in San Francisco as a single mom,” Bettina says. “There were days I wouldn’t eat any food just so I could be sure that my kids were okay. That’s how it should be though – making sure your kids have food first.”

Betania was relieved to find out that the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank operates a pantry at Hillcrest Elementary School, where her daughter attends second grade. Now she’s able to pick up 30 pounds of fresh groceries every Thursday when she dops her daughter off at school.

The biggest relief was when she learned that the Hillcrest pantry would stay open during the summer months, even when school is out of session.  “I don’t know what I was going to do without those groceries. But now I can count on the fresh produce and other items all summer long.”

The timing couldn’t be better. Betania describes her growing son’s hobbies as playing with a soccer ball and eating. “He loves all the fresh fruit that we get. I know that the chicken and other items will help him and his sister grow.”

Eager to find a good paying job, Betania searches every day, aiming to strike out on her own soon. With help from the Food Bank, she is less stressed about feeding her family, and has a little more breathing room to find a good job.

“Thank you, Food Bank! God has given you a heart to give out so much food and to help the community like this,” she says.

If you’re interested in helping someone like Betania nourish their children, click here and donate.

 

Meet Jayden, a Hunger Hero

May 26, 2017

Fifth grader Jayden and his family rely on weekly food assistance from the Food Bank, but his superpower is giving back. This little hero wakes up every Monday morning, two hours before school starts, to volunteer with his grandmother at their neighborhood food pantry.

When we asked him whether it’s hard to get up early, he says, “I do it to make sure that everyone who comes to school won’t be hungry.”

All year, kids like Jayden step up to help their families and community face hunger. But when schools close for the summer and families lose access to school meal programs, childhood hunger reaches its peak. Right now, proposed cuts to food assistance programs threaten to make childhood summer hunger even worse.

Luckily, today you have twice the power to fight childhood hunger. Through June 15th, PG&E is matching all gifts to the Food Bank. Please make a gift today and be a Summer Hunger Hero for kids like Jayden. Please donate here.

CalFresh Success Story | “Food stamps helped me stay in school.”

May 4, 2017

When 29-year-old Julia was in her last year of nursing school, she finally succumbed to the stark reality of her situation. Her husband had recently been laid off from his engineering job, and with bills piling up, the couple wasn’t sure if they could afford for Julia to finish school. They were also struggling to put food on the table for their kids.

“It got pretty scary for a while,” Julia recalls. “My husband and I were just trying to feed our family. We were so careful with our spending, but it just wasn’t enough.”  

After maxing-out their credit cards, Julia realized it was time to reach out for help. They applied for CalFresh, a federally-funded nutrition program (formerly called Food Stamps) that helps low-income households buy healthy foods.

Getting enrolled made a quick but lasting impact on Julia’s family. “I remember how we immediately all started eating better food. We’re talking about fruits and vegetables we had been skipping. And, food stamps helped me stay in school and earn my degree,” Julia says.

After Julia graduated, she landed a job as a labor and delivery nurse at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. With her steady income and her husband back at work, the family no longer needed CalFresh. But it’s not far from her mind: part of her job at the hospital is to help new mothers with financial challenges sign up for the program.

“If you’re not doing very well, and you’re not making enough money, CalFresh is one of the best ways to help you get by until you can get back on your feet.  It certainly helped me and my family get over the hump,” she says.

The Food Bank’s CalFresh Team is dedicated to getting eligible families like Julia’s connected to this valuable food assistance program. Last year, we helped 2,144 households apply for CalFresh, and families enrolled by the Food Bank were awarded over $5 million in benefits to buy groceries. Because CalFresh brings federal dollars into low-income communities, it is one of the best tools we have to end hunger.

Donate to our programs that help neighbors like Julia.

Learn more about our CalFresh Outreach.