Out of school – and minus a meal

“Imagine you don’t have a well-paying job. Imagine you don’t have a nice apartment, or your home. You have three kids. You’re working part-time at McDonald’s. Then you have another job on top of that. You have one child in childcare, two in school, and you’re paying more than half of your income for rent. [...]

Stories that inspired us in 2010

This past year, the need for food was staggering. We constantly broke our all-time monthly record for the most food delivered to hungry families in San Francisco and Marin, distributing millions of pounds of food every month. How did we do it? With the help of amazing volunteers, donors and clients who constantly inspire us. [...]

San Francisco 49ers write holiday notes to Food Bank clients – you can write one, too!

Members of the SF 49ers with holiday notes they wrote to SF Food Bank clients. We’ve got a big goal: to give a note of caring and encouragement to each family receiving Thanksgiving groceries from the San Francisco Food Bank. That’s 35,705 notes! Today, we got some help from the San Francisco 49ers, when Delaney Walker, [...]

Poverty an ever-growing problem nationally and locally

No one needs to read the news to know that the state of the U.S. economy is not what it once was. But just last week, the Census Bureau reported that 43.6 million people were living in poverty last year. In other words, 14.3% of the U.S. population lives on less than…wait for it…$22,050 per [...]

“If somebody needs my help, I will give it to them. That’s how it goes.”

Gamal* and his family are from Morocco. They fled domestic violence there and settled in San Francisco two years ago. Gamal is 19 years old. He’s a pantry volunteer and client. Here is his story in his own words: I’m from Casablanca. I live like, 15 years in Morocco and when I was four years [...]

“I have to be strong.”

Casey Walter (left) lives in a supportive housing facility in the Tenderloin with her mother, Jessie, and her siblings. Jessie shared her story with us in a recent interview: I’ve lived here in the Tenderloin for three years. We were homeless and there was a lady officer who fought for us to get housed here [...]

“It’s hard to get by”

Ginny is a Food Bank pantry client and the mother of a teenage boy. She shared her perspective with us in a recent conversation: I grew up in San Francisco and before, you used to be able to get so much more for your money. And now it’s extremely hard to get by. First things [...]

Hunger Takes Over the Headlines

This Thanksgiving, the San Francisco Food Bank made sure that 30,000 households enjoyed a fresh, healthy holiday dinner. But shocking news stories about hunger in the Bay Area – and across our country – underscore the fact that more and more people every day are seeking help. In the past two years, San Francisco has [...]

Another New Grocery Pantry Opens in the Sunset!

San Francisco Food Bank welcomed a new grocery pantry this past weekend at First United Presbyterian Church in the Sunset District. This community-centered church already offers ESL (English as a Second Language) classes and its parishioners are excited to be able to better serve their community by providing free groceries to those in need. Word [...]

Fifth Recession Relief Grocery Pantry Opens

Last week, San Francisco Food Bank opened our fifth special Recession Relief Grocery Pantry – this one, at Geneva Avenue Methodist United Church, in partnership with Nueva Vida Ministerios. These new pantries were created to serve people hit by the recession who have not accessed food assistance before. (If you need food, and live in [...]