The National Automobile Dealership Association recently gave a generous donation that helped the Food Bank purchase a brand new truck.  That donation, and subsequent news conference, was covered by KCBS Radio, Mill Valley Patch and The Association’s blog

 

 

Most of our readers are aware of the federal government shutdown that lasted from late December 2018, to the end of January, 2019.  It affected over 800,000 federal workers around the nation, some who went weeks without a paycheck.

In early January, we received word that a group of Coast Guard families, stationed in the Hamilton area of Novato, was in need of food assistance. We jumped into action, crafting a plan that would include a full food pantry delivered to the neighborhood where these families live. In addition, we sent a compliment of Food Bank employees to help enroll eligible families in the CalFresh (food stamps) program.

Here is some of the news coverage that we have received in the days leading up to the event:

CNN

40k members of the @USCG are now NOT getting paid, marking the first time servicemembers haven’t been paid during a #governmentshutdown. One Coast Guard wife is doing something about it:@SFMFoodBank@MarinHumane pic.twitter.com/1o1IMLtpWl

— Brooke Baldwin (@BrookeBCNN) January 16, 2019

Newsweek Magazine – Government Shutdown: Unpaid Federal Workers Are Now Turning to Food Banks To Feed Families

Univision – Food banks in California make donations to coastguard families affected by the closure of the government

KTVU Fox 2 – Novato steps up to help Coast Guard families in need

KCBS Radio – North Bay residents rally to support Coast Guard families

KQED Radio – Bay Area Food Banks prepare to help feed local furloughed federal workers

San Francisco Chronicle – Editorial: Crippled Government is the Threat Within

San Francisco Chronicle Editorial – Crippled government is the threat within

Marin Independent Journal – Coast Guard Families Tread Water

The San Francisco Business Journal – Bay Area businesses helped government workers during the shutdown. They’re ready to step up again

SF-Eater – Food Bank Hosts Massive Mobile Pantry for Unpaid Coast Guard Workers

Pt. Reyes Light – Community center opens pantry to federal workers

Gothamist.com – Food Banks Brace For Shortages Resulting From Government Shutdown

There is a new category of food distribution in the works, and the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank is helping to define it.

Rooted in the concept of food as medicine, SFMFB is working with the San Francisco Department of Public Health to develop a network of “food pharmacies,” which look like regular pantries on the surface, but have a lot going on behind the scenes that make them more effective in treating chronic disease through better nutrition.

Read more about it in the inaugural edition of Food Bank News

 

The San Francisco-Marin Food Bank’s home-delivered groceries program made its 250,000th delivery in December.

To mark the milestone, San Francisco Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer joined the Richmond District Neighborhood Center (RNC) and the Richmond Senior Center on Dec. 13th to deliver groceries to the Pham family in the Richmond District.  Read more about it in the Richmond Review Roundup published on January 3rd, 2019.

Every Tuesday, Helena Karas picks up fruit, vegetables and other groceries from the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank pantry that operates out of The Hilarita, an affordable-housing complex on Ned’s Way in Tiburon.  Karas is among dozens of locals who take advantage of the weekly food pantry, which opened to residents of The Hilarita in April, and to the public in August. The pantry, which is open from 4 to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, is the first Tiburon outpost for San Francisco-Marin Food Bank, which provides food to about 200 weekly pantries in San Francisco and 78 in Marin County.

Read more about this unique pantry in this article from Reporter Emily Lavin, with The Ark newspaper, which serves Tiburon, Belvedere and Strawberry.

 

 

 

Bay Area food banks are now sending weekly truckloads of food up to Butte County to assist with victims of the Camp Fire.   It’s part of a Mutual Aid Agreement (MAA) that calls for emergency supplies to be set aside in case of a disaster.

This MAA was declared last year following the devastating Wine Country Fires in Sonoma and Napa Counties.  (Read more about our response to that disaster)

KTVU Fox 2 News Reporter Rob Roth stopped by our San Francisco warehouse to get a peak of the work going on to make these latest deliveries a possibility.   Check out Rob’s story now.

If you would like to assist in this effort, please consider a donation today, or visit bayareahunger.org today

 

Two brothers, who both attend Redwood High School in Marin, recently started a nonprofit that helps bring fresh produce to the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank a couple of times a month.

The brothers work with neighbors in Tiburon who have fruit trees…asking to pick and pack any excess fruit that could be used for those suffering from food insecurity.

Reporter Julia Merron with the Redwood High School student newspaper, The Bark, reached out to the Food Bank to get more information for an article she wished to write. During those discussions, she also learned more about the Food Bank’s newly-opened pantry in the town of Tiburon.

Below is her article that folds both programs into one story

Redwood High School Student Newspaper – The Bark

When the winter holidays begin, the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank has the opportunity to showcase some of our work and thank some of our corporate partners.  It happens during the KPIX5 “Food For Bay Area Families” campaign, co-hosted by Whole Foods. This year was no different.  Take a look at some of the television check presentations from 2018.

–Food For Bay Area Families

–Wells Fargo Check Presentation

–Bank of America Check Presentation

–Kaiser Permanente Check Presentation

–JP Morgan Chase Check Presentation

–Sutter Health/CPMC Check Presentation

-Blackrock Check Presentation

-Gilead Sciences Check Presentation

Celebrated on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, “Giving Tuesday” is now known as a global day of giving – the charitable answer to the more commercialized events of “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday.”  It’s a day when many people focus on making a difference in their communities through volunteering and/or charitable giving to their favorite nonprofits.

In 2018, Giving Tuesday was an especially busy time at the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank as large groups of volunteers, who signed up for this day months in advance, were on hand all day, packing and sorting food. They’ll were joined by a special guest, San Francisco Mayor London Breed.

The Mayor took a a short tour of the Food Bank warehouse on November 27th, then rolled up her sleeves and sort food alongside teenage volunteers from St Anne School in San Francisco.

“We are always working to provide food security for all San Franciscans, but these efforts take on particular urgency during this time of year,” said Mayor Breed. “The holiday season is about being of service to others and helping those who are less fortunate, and Giving Tuesday is a celebration of that spirit.”

Hear more from the Mayor in this story from KCBS Reporter Jeffrey Schaub.

 

Now that the holidays are over, people sometimes feel like the hunger problem is over…but we know that hunger is a 365-day-a-year problem.

Listen to this story from KQED Reporter Anna Kusmer.