Author: Cady Osgood-Otis

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.”

Food Bank ‘Mini’ Team Favorites: Watermelon Recipes for Your Enjoyment

June 6, 2019

The Food Bank ‘Mini’ team lives to figure out-of-the-box ways of delivering fresh, nutritious food to our neighbors in need.  To help celebrate the wonderful fruit offerings as we head into summer, we asked members of our Nutrition Education team to help us out with a few refreshing watermelon recipes. They pulled up a few delicious ideas from our friends at EatFresh.org.  Enjoy!

Watermelon Salsa 

 

INGREDIENTS

3 cups Watermelon seeded and chopped

½ Medium onion chopped

½ Red bell pepper chopped

1 Jalapeño pepper seeded and chopped

2 tablespoons Fresh cilantro chopped

2 tablespoons Lime juice

1 teaspoon Vegetable oil

PREPARATION

*In a medium bowl, mix all ingredients.
*Serve immediately with chips or cover and refrigerate for up to 1 hour to allow flavors to blend.

Watermelon Cooler

INGREDIENTS

*2 cups chopped water melon
*2 cups cold water

PREPARATION

*Place all ingredients in a blender container.
*Blend until smooth. Pour into glasses and serve.

 

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.”

 

Food Bank Innovations | Serving the Unhoused Population

May 13, 2019

Pick up a local newspaper, and it’s more likely than not you’ll spot a story about the challenge of homelessness and efforts to tackle it, including recent headlines about plans to build a Navigation Center along San Francisco’s waterfront, and Marc Benioff’s $30-million donation to study homelessness.

Although the Food Bank is not making headlines on this topic, we are diligently working on improving our assistance to *unhoused neighbors every day.

Food For All

We estimate that a vast majority of the food programs serving unhoused people in San Francisco and Marin today either get fresh groceries for these meals from the Food Bank or partner with us in some way.  These include the big congregate meal sites like GLIDE and St. Anthony’s Dining Room in San Francisco and St. Vincent DePaul in Marin.  in 2018 at just these three sites, we averaged three deliveries of food each week – totaling 1.4 million pounds of food, equal to about 1.17 million meals.

“Providing our unhoused neighbors with healthy food not only reduces their food insecurity, but in some cases it increases their stability so they can address other life challenges.” says Irene Garcia, Senior Program Coordinator and leader of the Food Bank’s Unhoused Workgroup.

New and Improved Partnerships

We are building new pantries and partnerships to better serve our region’s unhoused population. That work includes adjusting menus to address limited and even non-cook needs.  The goal is to ensure that we are providing products that are appropriate for their cooking and storage facilities.

  • City Team in San Francisco’s SOMA neighborhood launched a pantry in spring 2018 and has grown to serve 100 households every week.
  • St. Agnes and St. Ignatius Churches in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood partnered with us to launch a pantry in summer 2018. Efforts are on-going, primarily in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood to conduct outreach to unhoused individuals, families, and at-risk youth.
  • Reinvigorated our pantry at Bessie Carmichael Elementary School in 2017 with the support of EPIC Church. Located in San Francisco’s SOMA neighborhood, approximately 20% of families who attend the school are unhoused.  The pantry is now thriving, going from serving 35 families in 2017 to 95 families today.
    • In partnership with TNDC and the Tenderloin People’s Garden, we are now also able to continue serving Bessie families throughout the summer months when school is not in session.
  • Through our ongoing partnership with Starbucks’ FoodShare program, the Food Bank is rescuing thousands of pounds of fresh, prepackaged food from the coffee chain every night after closing and delivering that food to partners like St. Anthony’s Dining Room and GLIDE hours later.

Read stories about how the Food Bank assists neighbors who are unhoused or formerly homeless:

Homeless to Hopeful

Health Food for People With No Place To Call Home

Princess’ Story

Food is a Life Saver

Starbucks FoodShare

By The Numbers

The latest 2019 Homeless Counts for San Francisco and Marin are still being tabulated, so the latest data was taken from Point-In-Time surveys conducted in January of 2017.

  • The San Francisco survey found 7,499 individuals staying in emergency shelters, transitional housing facilities, domestic violence shelters, jails, hospitals, treatment facilities, and living unsheltered on the streets.
  • The Marin County Point-in-Time survey counted 1,117 individuals living in transitional housing, shelters, and on the streets.

* The Food Bank has elected to use the term “unhoused” rather than “homeless” when referring to people without a home of their own.  We believe the term “homeless” carries with it an implied bias – that because someone does not have a home (s)he is therefore considered “less” important than others.  It’s our experience that many people call San Francisco and Marin their home and their community, even though they do not have stable housing at the time.  The difference may seem subtle to some but we feel it’s an important distinction.

*Photo by Kevin Butz on Unsplash   

Kevin Butz

Food Bank ‘Mini’ Team Favorites: Strawberry Recipes for Your Enjoyment

May 6, 2019

The Food Bank ‘Mini’ team lives to figure out-of-the-box ways of delivering fresh, nutritious food to our neighbors in need.  To help celebrate the wonderful fruit offerings this spring, we asked members of our Nutrition Education team to help us out with a few refreshing strawberry recipes. They pulled up a few delicious ideas from our friends at EatFresh.org.  Enjoy!

Strawberry Spring Rolls

INGREDIENTS

½ cup Daikon cut into thin strips
½ cup Gailon cut into thin strips
½ cup Chinese cabbage cut into small strips
½ cup Strawberries cut into small strips
8 rice wrappers
4 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon Sesame oil

PREPARATION

*Mix together all vegetable strips
*Place strips on soaked rice wrappers and roll up burrito-fashion.
*Combine soy sauce and oil; use for dipping sauce.

Strawberry Pineapple Lemonade

INGREDIENTS

4 cups 100% pineapple juice
2 cups Fresh or frozen strawberries sliced
¼ cup Fresh lemon juice
½ cup Water
Ice

PREPARATION

*Put all ingredients (except ice) in a blender container and churn until the mixture is smooth
*Pour into glasses over ice cubes and serve.

Nutrition Education | Springtime Fun Facts & Recipes

May 3, 2019

With spring in full bloom, you may have noticed a plethora of fresh produce at your local pantry or neighborhood market.  Here are some fun facts and tips for our favorite spring produce items, plus easy-to-follow recipes from our Nutrition Education Team. Enjoy!

Fabulous Asparagus

  • A good source of fiber, folate, and Vitamins A, C, and K
  • Store upright in the fridge with the base of spears in water for 2-3 days
  • Quick-and-easy prep:
    • Steam full spears with a little water in a pan on your stovetop for about 5 minutes.
    • Cut into pieces and sauté with other vegetables in a little oil.
    • Cook in the microwave in a glass dish with a little water for about 5 minutes.

Recipe: Asparagus and Red Quinoa Salad

Amazing Artichokes

  • A good source of Vitamin C, Folate, Magnesium, and fiber
  • Store in the fridge: cut a small slice from the stem, sprinkle with water, and store in an airtight plastic bag. Cook them within 7 days from storage.
  • Quick-and-easy prep:
    • Steam whole, with a little water in a pan on your stovetop for about 30 minutes on high heat (add enough water so it doesn’t evaporate part way through cooking)
    • Boil whole by submerging in water, and simmering for about 30 minutes
    • Drizzle with olive oil, wrap in foil, and bake for 1 hour at 425˚ F.

Recipe: Boiled Artichokes

Flavorful Fennel

  • A good source of potassium and Vitamin A
  • Store by separating the long stalks from the bulb and store the two parts separately in plastic bags. You can also store the full fennel upright in a cup of water on the counter. Use within a couple of days to avoid loss of flavor.
  • Keep in mind that the entire plant can be consumed, from bulb to stalks.
  • Quick-and-easy prep:
    • Fennel bulb can be enjoyed raw in salads, but can also be sautéed, roasted or grilled with the stalks.
    • The stalks are more fibrous than the bulb and are best enjoyed cooked.

Recipe: Salmon with Roasted Fennel and Citrus

(artichoke photo courtesy Martin Adams on Unsplash)

Food Bank Milestone | Paul Ash’s 30th Anniversary

April 10, 2019

In the land of food banking, you won’t find too many people with the institutional knowledge and experience of our executive director, Paul Ash.

Paul joined the then San Francisco Food Bank when it was just getting off the ground – April 1st, 1989 to be exact.  Fortunately for us, this was no April Fool’s Joke. And even more fortunate is the fact that Paul never left!

He’s been a guiding light for ending hunger for so many years, but don’t take our word for it.  Check out what others are saying about Paul and add your own message in the comments section below.

“For over 30 years, Paul has dedicated his career to serving hungry residents in San Francisco. We celebrate not only his commitment to supporting our underrepresented communities, but also his steadfast leadership of one of San Francisco’s most important institutions.”
-San Francisco Mayor London Breed

“We congratulate Paul Ash on his 30th anniversary with the Food Bank.  Paul Ash has been for these decades an essential partner with GLIDE in our mutual commitment to alleviate suffering, hunger and food insecurity.  Paul is a relentless warrior for the poor and those who are pushed to the margins of our society.  We extend our gratitude and admiration and love to Paul Ash.”
-Rev. Cecil Williams and Janice Mirikitani, CoFounders, GLIDE

“Cheers to you, Paul!  When you joined the food bank it was just a small but mighty team in a dilapidated warehouse on 3rd street, distributing less than a million pounds of food a year and operating in the red. But you had a belief that access to food is a basic human right and a vision for how to grow the organization to the tremendous community leader it is today. You were always generous with your time, and a leader at the state and national level.  You are also a mentor to many current leaders in the food bank network (Paul is the only ED who can say three current food bank CEOs are former direct reports). Creative and disciplined, you have always kept the organization focused on how it can corral any available resources to have the biggest impact on ending hunger, and that is a very special talent.”
-Leslie Bacho, CEO of 2nd Harvest Food Bank of San Jose and San Mateo

“When I started working for the Food Bank we were distributing about 3 million pounds per year. Paul was just a couple of years into the job and already forming his vision for the organization.  The first thing I noticed was he had the ability to always pick the opportunity that fit with the Food Banks vision.  It made our growth possible with the limited funding available. His vision still endures today as we distribute close to 50 million pounds of food per year.
-Gary Maxworthy, Former Board Member, creator of the state’s Farm to Family program.

“Congratulations Paul…you have done an amazing job transforming the then San Francisco Food Bank from a very small, but needed, organization in the late 80s to a Bay Area powerhouse charity that now serves over 200,000 people in San Francisco and Marin each year. It would be impossible to quantify just how many lives you changed and saved in your tenure, but it’s a lot and you should be  commended for that.”
-Michael Terris, Food Bank Board President & partner at Terris, Barnes & Walters

Please take a moment to leave your own well wishes and recollections about Paul in our comments section below.

Leading the Charge Against Food Waste

April 2, 2019

Preventing food waste has become a hot topic lately, but the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank started reducing food waste before it was cool. In fact, we’ve been recovering and redistributing surplus foods for nearly 30 years.

Our motivation was to source large amounts of healthy fruits and vegetables for our participants in the most efficient way possible. And as a natural byproduct, about 65% of all the food we provide is considered rescued.

In the late 1990s, we saw an opportunity. California — the nation’s breadbasket — was home to an enormous bounty of surplus produce. Before we came along, that perfectly nutritious produce was left in the field to rot or be plowed under. We thought, “That’s a lot of food that could be helping hungry people.”

In response, we developed a program that is now called Farm to Family, spearheaded by Food Bank Board Member Gary Maxworthy. Through the program, farmers donated truckloads of fresh fruits and vegetables to the Food Bank. We brought them to our pantries, and our participants were so grateful.

The program proved to be overwhelmingly successful and generated enough produce to share with food banks across the state. Due to the program’s growth, administration was transferred to the California Association of Food Banks in 2005.

Farm to Family now serves a statewide network of 40+ food banks, providing 150 million pounds of produce every year. In April 2016, Farm to Family shipped its 1,000,000,000th pound of produce! Yes, you read those zeros right — 1 billion!

In addition to providing millions of people with healthy food, we’ve diverted millions of pounds of waste from landfills. Producing food that no one eats wastes water, fertilizer, pesticides, seeds, fuel, and land — and we’ve interrupted that process.

We also help our pantry participants make the most out of the food they receive by educating them about how to preserve and prepare the food — ensuring that every ounce of nutrition goes as far as possible. Did you know, for example, that milk is safe to drink a full 7 days after the expiration date? Check out our handy tool that explains food expiration dates and how long foods are safe for consumption.

We started our Farm to Family program with our hearts set on providing more healthy fruits and vegetables to people in need. And we’re thrilled that we’ve been able to not only help the people we serve, but also be a leader in the food waste movement.

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Food Bank ‘Mini’ Team Favorites: Celery Recipes to Enjoy This Spring

March 26, 2019

The Food Bank ‘Mini’ team lives to figure out-of-the-box ways of delivering fresh, nutritious food to our neighbors in need.  To mark April as National Celery Month, we asked members of our Nutrition Education team to help us out with a few celery recipes. They pulled up a few delicious ideas from our friends at EatFresh.org.  Enjoy!

Apple Celery Slaw with Nuts

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
¼ teaspoon mustard
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 apples diced (skin on)
2 large celery ribs cut into 1/4 inch-thick pieces
2 cups raw cabbage shredded
¼ cup nuts chopped
chopped parsley (optional)

PREPARATION

*Whisk the vinegar with the mustard in a large bowl.
*Add oil in a stream, whisking until blended.
*Toss apples, celery, and cabbage with the dressing.
*Just before serving, sprinkle with nuts (and parsley).

Chickpea Dip with Fresh Celery Sticks

INGREDIENTS

1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans) drained and rinsed
3 garlic cloves
¼ cup plain lowfat yogurt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vegetable or olive oil (or nonstick cooking spray)
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon paprika
⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
4 medium celery stalks sliced

PREPARATION

*Put the first eight ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth.
*Serve at room temperature with celery slices and enjoy!

Letter From Paul | President Trump’s Budget

March 22, 2019

For the third year in a row, we at the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank find ourselves on the defensive with a harmful budget proposal from the Trump Administration.

The President’s spending plan calls for massive cuts in vital safety net programs – including $220 billion in deep cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, CalFresh in California) over the next 10 years.

If you’re a longtime supporter of the Food Bank, then you probably know just how devastating this proposal would be for our community. SNAP helps put food on the table for over 40 million Americans, four million Californians, and tens of thousands of people in our service area of Marin and San Francisco.  It’s THE most important and effective program we have to fight hunger and serves as a lifeline to those who don’t make enough money to provide three square meals a day for themselves and family members.

MORE NOT LESS

Now is the time to invest in food assistance efforts rather than diminishing them. While the economy is strong, we should bolster programs such as SNAP with benefit levels that support better nutrition. Income requirements for these programs should be designed to account for cost-of-living disparities, so that applicants in high-cost areas—such as San Francisco and Marin—are guaranteed equitable access to food assistance.

Through cruel and ill-conceived ideas, like a renewed push to replace SNAP benefits with so-called “harvest boxes”, the President’s proposed budget poses a grave threat to our most vulnerable neighbors. The harvest box proposal stigmatizes people who are struggling to make ends meet.  More importantly, it replaces SNAP, an efficient system where people shop for themselves in a grocery store and pay with an electronic benefits card, with a program requiring an entirely new distribution system that would likely be more expensive, less efficient, and provides less nutritional value for those it purports to serve.

CALL TO ACTION

We continue to remain firmly committed to using our voice to elevate the importance of federal nutrition programs like SNAP and call on the community to reach out to their members of Congress to oppose these cuts to SNAP and other vital programs.

Our tagline at the Food Bank is “Food For All” – a simple phrase with a big meaning. When we make healthy food available for all, our community thrives.  Any effort to undermine that is simply undermines the greatness and health of our country.