Author: Heather Rudow

Reflections On Being in Service to the Community

February 26, 2026

Ending hunger takes more than food. It takes trusted partners who know their communities and show up for them week after week. For Black History Month, we’re spotlighting three partners whose service to their neighbors is also a reflection of the Food Bank’s mission and commitment to the leadership of our partners in providing community-led solutions to hunger. 

Shanell Williams, Rafiki Coalition for Health and Wellness 

In partnership with the Food Bank, Rafiki Coalition for Health and Wellness recently opened a Community Market at Umoja Health Access Point in Bayview Hunters Point. Resembling neighborhood grocery stores, Community Markets let participants choose the proteins, produce, and culturally relevant foods they bring home, and are open multiple days each week. The program centers on respect for participants and the power of choice. It also connects them to behavioral health, wellness, and other supportive services that address the root causes of hunger, all under one roof. 

For Shanell Williams, Rafiki’s executive director, food is an entry point for overall well-being. “To really be healthy, it’s not just one domain,” she says. “It’s making sure that folks have access to mental wellness, complementary medicine, supports for chronic health conditions. And food is a big part of that.” 

Bayview Hunters Point has long been a food desert, and Shanell sees Community Markets as a direct response to that history. “What we love about the community food market is that it’s open access, low barrier, and it’s also about dignity,” she says. “Just because folks are needing to access services doesn’t mean we lose that piece around dignity.” 

Shanell grew up in the Fillmore, San Francisco’s historic Black neighborhood known as the Harlem of the West. Her community-focused leadership journey includes community organizing serving eight years on the San Francisco Community College Board and a decade at UCSF as the Director of Community Engagement and Partnerships at the school’s California Preterm Birth Initiative program. At Rafiki, she hires from the community and builds career pipelines for the people who do the work alongside her. She calls them “PhD doers,” honoring their lived expertise. “It’s really for me about community empowerment,” she says. 

Chester Williams, Community Living Campaign 

Shanell’s work connects people to food and services in one place. Chester Williams brings both directly to people’s doors. 

Every week, the Community Living Campaign (CLC) helps get bags of fresh groceries to roughly 140 elderly neighbors who can’t get to a pantry on their own. The Food Bank supplies the fresh produce and groceries. Meals on Wheels San Francisco provides the operational space. And Chester’s team of volunteers packs the bags and delivers them door to door.  As Bayview food coordinator for CLC, Chester has spent more than a decade coordinating home-delivered groceries for seniors across Bayview, Visitacion Valley, Parkmerced and Lakeview.   

Chester grew up in the Fillmore. He’s Catholic, raised in a tradition of service and commitment to the common good at St. Dominic’s and Sacred Heart. That foundation carried him from teaching elementary school to directing a community technology lab to His delivery routes today reach seniors who speak Cantonese, Mandarin, Spanish and other languages. For Chester, making sure every participant feels understood and cared for is the whole point. “I grew up with that feeling of you need to help others no matter who,” he says. “After a while, it’s not even a job anymore. You just automatically put that in.”  

Veronica Shepard, San Francisco African American Faith-Based Coalition 

Chester serves individuals one door at a time. Veronica Shepard mobilizes entire congregations. 

When Veronica and a colleague conducted food security screenings at Black churches across San Francisco, the results were stark: congregants were going hungry, and their pastors had no idea. “These pastors learned their own congregants were hungry and they were blown away by the results,” Veronica says. “Food is relative to everything. You can be unhoused, but you still got to have food.” 

That discovery united faith leaders across the city. In 2016, Veronica formed the San Francisco African American Faith-Based Coalition, bringing pastors, ministers and leaders from across denominations together around the urgency of food insecurity. The coalition impacts some of the city’s most vulnerable populations (Black/African American, Pacific Islanders, Latinx, Black and Middle Eastern Muslims) which have been   partnered with the Food Bank for the past six years. 

Each December, the coalition produces Feeding 5,000, a holiday food distribution that has brought food to more than 22,700 households since the pandemic. But the work continues year-round. “Hunger is not just a holiday event,” Veronica says. “Hunger is every day.” 

Veronica is a native San Franciscan and grew up in the Bayview Hunters Point Neighborhood during the civil rights movement, and she carries that history with her. 

 “I know there’s strength in numbers,” she says. “Just like then, we’re working to make justice happen today.” She reflects on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech to the Medical Committee for Human Rights, in which he stated, “injustice in health is the most shocking and the most inhuman.” 

Veronica emphasizes that hunger is merely a symptom of a much deeper ailment.  

“If we don’t address the root cause of hunger, which is poverty,” she explains, “we are failing to confront the structural injustice that keeps our community in a cycle of need. Without addressing the underlying poverty, the cycle of inequity remains unbroken.” 

Looking Ahead 

The Food Bank works with 265 community partners across San Francisco and Marin to end hunger. The works of Shanell, Chester and Veronica reflect what that partnership looks like when antihunger efforts are led by those who know their community best. We are grateful to walk and work alongside them. 

Strength in Numbers: Meet Veronica

February 23, 2026

For Black History Month, the Food Bank is proud to spotlight a partner whose work aligns with our mission: ending hunger and creating a community free of its root causes, where everyone can access nutritious food of their choosing.

Ending hunger takes more than food. It takes trusted partners who authentically know their communities and show up for them week after week.

More than ten years ago, Veronica Shepard was with the San Francisco Department of Public Health when she and a colleague conducted food security screenings at Black churches across San Francisco. The results were stark: congregants were going hungry, and their pastors didn’t know.

“These pastors learned their own congregants were hungry and they were blown away by the results,” Veronica says. “Food is relative to everything. You can be unhoused, but you still got to have food.”
That discovery united faith leaders across the city. In 2016, Veronica formed the San Francisco African American Faith-Based Coalition, bringing together faith leaders from across denominations to address food insecurity. The coalition supports some of San Francisco’s most food-insecure populations: Black and African American, Pacific Islander, Latinx, and Middle Eastern and Black Muslim communities.

Each December, the coalition distributes food through Feeding 5,000, reaching more than 22,700 households since the pandemic began. But the work continues year-round. “Hunger is not just a holiday event,” Veronica says. “Hunger is every day.”

A native San Franciscan, Veronica grew up in Bayview Hunters Point during the civil rights movement and carries that history with her. “I know there’s strength in numbers,” she says. “Just like then, we’re working to make justice happen today.”
She reflects on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech to the Medical Committee for Human Rights. In it, he stated: “Injustice in health is the most shocking and the most inhuman.”

Veronica names hunger for what it really is: a symptom of deeper structural issues. “If we don’t address the root cause of hunger, which is poverty,” she explains, “we are failing to confront the structural injustice that keeps our community in a cycle of need. Without addressing the underlying poverty, the cycle of inequity remains unbroken.”

The Food Bank works with 265 community partners across San Francisco and Marin to end hunger. When communities lead, the work becomes real. That’s what we see in Veronica and the San Francisco African American Faith-Based Coalition. We’re grateful to walk alongside them.

Hunger Doesn’t Go Away If You Don’t Count It

February 2, 2026

“Hunger doesn’t just go away because you stop counting it.” 

That was the message from the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank’s Executive Director Tanis Crosby at a Jan. 30 press conference announcing new state legislation to protect food insecurity data in California. 

“Let’s be clear. Our neighbors are counting on us, so we’ve got to count what matters,” she continued. “We cannot serve our community without data and insight into hunger.” 

State Assemblymember Catherine Stefani (D-19) introduced The Count Hunger Act, which would restore funding for a screening tool that identifies food insecurity across California. In early January, the food insecurity screener, a critical part of the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), was canceled when the administration eliminated SNAP-Ed funding. 

“The federal government chose to stop counting hunger and hope no one would notice,” said Assemblymember Stefani. “But hunger doesn’t disappear when you stop measuring it — it just gets easier to ignore. This proposal is about California stepping up where Washington walked away, restoring the data communities need to understand who is struggling, target help, and confront food insecurity with honesty and urgency.” 

This latest cut is part of a pattern. In October 2025, the USDA canceled the nation’s annual Hunger Survey. Now, expected cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) could cause as many as 22,000 San Francisco and Marin residents to lose access to this critical food assistance program. 

Noriko Lim Tepper, the Food Bank’s Chief Strategic Partnership, Advocacy and Voice Officer, emphasized that the proposed legislation goes beyond restoring data collection. It would also pilot expanded guidelines to assess hunger in high-cost areas. 

“We cannot afford to leave valuable information on where hunger exists in the dark,” said Noriko. “Reliable methods for identifying food insecurity can help improve outcomes for our working families. Families earning nearly twice the 200% FPL — the federal poverty level — benchmark, which is about $64,000 for a family of four, are still struggling. If the FPL in the CHIS screener doubles, this ensures every Californian experiencing food insecurity is seen.” 

Greer Dove, a former Food CARE (Community Advocacy Resilience Equity) Council member, knows these challenges personally. 

“Living in the Bay Area is so expensive,” she said. “I am so happy that Assemblymember Stefani is proposing this bill, both to be able to continue finding the people that need this help and also to be able to expand the benefits that people need.” 

If approved, the two-year pilot would restore CHIS food insecurity funding and expand eligibility to reflect reality: many working families earning above traditional poverty thresholds still can’t afford food amid rising housing and living costs. This expanded definition could eventually inform eligibility criteria for programs like CalFresh. 

For the Food Bank, backing this legislation is a natural fit. Data-informed decision-making drives everything we do, from the policies we support to how we get food to our neighbors. We can’t solve a problem we can’t see. And as Tanis said: we’ve got to count what matters. 

The January 30 press conference received ample media coverage, with several news outlets covering the event, including KQED, KCBS, KTVU-TV and KRON4-TV.

Listening, Connecting, Supporting: Meet the Peer Navigators at Western Addition Community Market

January 22, 2026

Peter helps participants connect with housing assistance and other city resources.

Peter and Annette have been married for 37 years. Their biggest piece of advice? 

Listening. 

“Listening,” says Annette, “is key.” 

It’s also one of the keys to the couple’s success as Peer Navigators at the Western Addition Community Market, where they’ve spent the past three months getting to know participants and connecting them to resources that address the root causes of hunger. 

The couple has been volunteering with the Food Bank for four years, initially through their church, Cornerstone in the Mission. They live in the Castro but volunteer in Western Addition because they see the need across the city. When they saw the opportunity to become Peer Navigators, it felt like a natural next step. “The Community Market provides dignity — folks can come in and choose their items,” Peter says. “As Peer Navigators, we can offer something beyond food.”

Annette greets participants and connects them with supportive services.

A New Model for Food Access

Community Markets resemble grocery stores, where participants can shop for what they need, just like they would at a local market. Responding to community feedback, markets are open multiple days with extended hours, making it easier for people to access food at a time that fits their schedule. 

Last year, the Food Bank launched two Community Markets, supported the opening of a partner-run Community Market, and paved the way for more to open this year. Markets run by the Food Bank, like Western Addition, offer referrals and guidance from Peer Navigators, who use their lived experience to help neighbors find and access local services. 

“There are a lot of resources out there, but people don’t know where to find them,” Annette says. “Being a Peer Navigator means getting people the help they need. Attaching resources to food is huge.” 

Peter and Annette are just two of the Peer Navigators at Western Addition Community Market. 

Glenn went from policy advocacy with the FoodCARE Council to helping neighbors as a Peer Navigator.

From Policy Advocate to Peer Navigator 

Glenn first got involved with the Food Bank through the FoodCARE Council (Community Advocacy Resilience Equity Council), where people with lived experience of hunger learn to advocate for policy change. After working on systemic issues that impact the whole state, he saw the Peer Navigator program as another way to help at the neighborhood level. 

“San Francisco’s going through a difficult time right now,” he says, “and people are not aware of the resources available unless they sit down and talk to someone.” 

From Healthcare to Community Care 

Michael brings three decades of healthcare experience to connecting people with resources.

Michael brings three decades of healthcare administration experience to the work. He spent years helping patients navigate complicated medical systems at a large cardiology practice. When he read about the Peer Navigator program, he recognized the same challenge: people who don’t know what resources are available or how to access them. 

“A lot of people when they come in have one thing on their mind — to get the food and get back home,” he says. “But quite a few people will stop, take the time, and listen to what we have to offer.” 

Connecting Neighbors to Resources 

The Peer Navigator role takes research, quick thinking, and genuine listening. The team maintains contact lists with direct phone numbers for city resources, from utility assistance to job training programs. When someone only has a few minutes between shopping and catching the bus home, that preparation matters. 

“We take them inside, sit down, get on the phone to see what’s available,” Peter explains. 

Housing concerns come up frequently. Peter recalls helping someone whose name wasn’t on the lease. The landlord was trying to push them out. Peter and Annette sat down with them, wrote a letter on their behalf, and connected them with legal assistance. 

Meeting People Where They Are 

Not everyone who walks through the doors is ready to talk about needs beyond food. Annette recognizes the stigma some people carry about accessing support. But showing up consistently builds trust. 

“You’re not just talking to people, you’re encouraging them and supporting them,” Annette says. “Even if they don’t have interest right away, we encourage them to think about it for later or share with someone they know who might need it.” 

These connections are at the heart of the Community Market model. By pairing dignified food access with thoughtful, supportive services, the Food Bank is helping neighbors address not just hunger today, but the root causes that create it.  

Introducing Community Markets: More Than Food, A Path to Stability

January 5, 2026

Building from Experience  

Guadalupe Gonzalez, Bilingual Community Connections Manager at the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank, remembers what it was like to figure out complex systems on her own. 

Born outside Mexico City, Guadalupe moved with her family to the Bay Area when she was eight. Her parents spoke little English, so she enrolled her younger sister in after-school programs and helped the family manage daily life.  

“The help to get through these systems is often there,” she says, “but it can feel inaccessible and overwhelming to find without support from someone who’s been there before.” 

Years later, when her sister went to college, she thanked Guadalupe for paving the way.  

“Having someone to guide you through those processes makes such a difference,” Guadalupe says. 

Now, Guadalupe is bringing her own experience to the work of building out the volunteer-led Peer Navigation program for the Food Bank’s newly launched Community Markets. 

More than Food 

Community Markets are grounded in the belief that drives Guadalupe’s work and all of ours at the Food Bank: no one should have to struggle to access food, housing, or health resources. 

“Community markets are the next evolution of the food pantry,” says Adam Hoffman, the Food Bank’s senior program manager, direct service. 

Together with trusted community partners, the Food Bank is launching this innovative model to address hunger and its root causes. Designed to resemble neighborhood grocery stores, Community Markets let participants choose the proteins, produce, and culturally relevant foods they bring home, and are open multiple days each week. The program centers on respect for participants and the power of choice. 

“Here, you have the ability to choose the day that meets your individual schedule, and you can come any time during that day,” Adam says. 

Expanding Access 

Over the next year, the Food Bank and its partners will open eight Community Markets, some run directly by the Food Bank and others led by community organizations. 

Community Markets led by our partners are pairing food access with the other services they offer to create a more seamless experience for participants. And markets run by the Food Bank are offering referrals and guidance from Peer Navigators, trusted community volunteers who use their own lived experience to help neighbors find and access local services.  

“What makes the Peer Navigators program so powerful is that it’s built for the community, by the community,” Guadalupe says. “The web of services in San Francisco is so big and accessing them can be daunting. “Having someone who’s been through similar experiences and knows how to navigate these systems can make all the difference.” 

Two Food Bank-led Community Markets, China Basin and Western Addition, launched in June. And, El Colibri Community Market, operated by La Raza Community Resource Center in the Mission District, opened Aug. 15. 

Meeting Urgent Needs with Innovative Solutions 

Gabriel Medina, La Raza’s Executive Director, is grateful for another way to reach the neighbors who need it most. 

“Food is a fundamental doorway to our services,” he says. “In a community market, we can not only offer the basic groceries that we have here, but we can also offer more intentional space and connection to our case managers and other resources. Also, with this market, we can keep food a lot longer because it’s a dedicated space. We don’t need to move it, so it can stay here until the next day.” 

El Colibri expects to serve 1,000 participants weekly by the end of October. And, over the next three years, we have the goal of serving up to 4,500 households every week through Community Markets. 

With food insecurity at historic levels and critical supports disappearing, Community Markets are one way the Food Bank is stepping up to meet people where they are and help neighbors keep food on the table, even when times are uncertain. 

 “Community markets are so important, especially today,” Guadalupe says. “We want participants to feel like this is their market, their choice, and that they’re receiving the best quality items. We hope to build community, so participants feel safe and supported.”       

 

At Bayview Church of Christ, Fresh Food Fuels Creativity

December 9, 2025

On a sunny Thursday afternoon in the Bayview, Danielle scopes out tables of fresh produce at the Bayview Church of Christ neighborhood food pantry. She’s bringing them home to her mom, who she’s been caring for full-time for the last 13 years. The weekly visits to this pantry, part of the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank’s Neighborhood Food Network, have become woven into their daily life — even sparking Danielle’s creativity. 

Finding Creativity Where You Can 

Danielle is a passionate, professional artist, but being a caretaker means she doesn’t always get to her work. When she can’t find the time, she creates with what she has: the food she cooks for her mom, much of which comes from the Bayview Church of Christ food pantry. Eggs on potatoes with tomato, carrot ginger soup, grapes and pears arranged on a plate. When her mom is delighted by one of these artfully arranged meals, Danielle takes a picture. 

Danielle estimates she’s taken about 500 photos by now. “Those pictures only happen when she wants a picture,” she explains. “I only take those pictures when she says, ‘Ooh, I like this. Let me take a picture.'” 

She’s even turned these pictures into an art exhibit, showing them both with fellow artists and in a solo show. 

The food from the pantry has brought unexpected joy to this family: ingredients that become art, and meals that spark happiness. It has also helped ease some of the burdens. 

Between managing her mom’s Alzheimer’s and trying to afford life in San Francisco, there’s a lot to juggle. So when Danielle noticed the pantry opening in 2023 while walking her dog, she signed right up. She was grateful she wouldn’t have to choose between groceries and paying for other essentials. 

“It’s one less thing I have to worry about,” Danielle says. “Financially, every little part matters and counts.” 

A Partnership That Changed Everything 

Bayview Church of Christ is one of more than 200 pantries in the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank’s Neighborhood Food Network. Each week, about 230 people pick up groceries at the pantry. Nearly 70% of what the Food Bank provides is fruits and vegetables. 

For Chris Elmore, the pantry coordinator, partnering with the Food Bank in 2023 was a game-changer. 

Before that partnership began, he and his brother were picking up donations from Safeway in Chris’s box truck and distributing them from the church parking lot on their own. It was a lot of work. 

When those grocery store donations ended, Chris connected with the Food Bank at their warehouse on Pennsylvania Avenue. 

Now, Chris says, “Everything is fresh. We got onions, we got grapes, we got celery, grapefruit. We usually have some type of meat, maybe milk. Just everything that you can want.” 

When Spices Make the Difference 

And recently, the pantry’s been offering ginger, jalapeños, and cilantro as part of a Food Bank pilot program testing whether spices and aromatics help families use more of the produce they receive. 

Chris has noticed people love the spices and are using them in all kinds of dishes. “The ginger and the jalapeño are the best right now,” he says. 

One man made something that looked like fortune cookies shaped into flowers, using ginger and other ingredients from the pantry. Another woman brought back spring roll-like pastries with beef and vegetables inside. People have brought tostadas to share with volunteers. 

Chris loves seeing how the spices inspire people to try new dishes—and how those dishes reflect the neighborhood’s diversity. Bayview brings together people from all over the world, each with their own culinary traditions. 

“The cultures here are different,” Chris says. “Even [within] countries like China and Japan, you got the Easterners, you got the Southerners, and they cook things different.” He’s learned phrases in multiple languages just from running the pantry each week. “This is my community,” he says, “and the people here are great.” 

Chris isn’t the only one who’s found connection. For Danielle, the pantry means food in the house, people who know her and her mom, and one less thing to figure out each week. It’s community care in action. 

“Most of the people here are my neighbors,” she says. “I see them not just when it’s food bank day. I see them when I walk the dog. This is helping each other.” 

 

When Pantries Closed, Presbyterian Church in Chinatown Opened Its Doors

December 3, 2025

Alma loves to cook for her husband, her daughters, and her neighbors. Sisig sizzling in the pan. Chicken congee, fragrant with fried garlic and spring onion. Tilapia steamed with tomatoes and garlic. 

“Sometimes I share with the manager of my apartment,” she laughs. “He said he likes [my cooking].” 

These days, making those meals takes more than culinary skills. It takes support. 

Alma retired to care for her husband, who’s on dialysis. Living on a limited income, she depends on the food pantry at Presbyterian Church in Chinatown (PCC), part of the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank’s Neighborhood Food Network, for the nutritious food her husband needs to stay healthy.  

“This pantry is a very big help,” she says. “Food is so expensive now.” 

Alma is one of what will eventually be 350 neighbors served by this pantry at PCC. Her story shows exactly why opening it mattered so much, at a moment when hunger was deepening and help was disappearing.  

Neighbors Refuse to Let Neighbors Go Hungry 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Food Bank launched Pop-Up Pantries across San Francisco and Marin in response to surging food insecurity. Alma went to the Stonestown Pop-Up during this time, grateful for a reliable food source while she was working but still struggling to make ends meet. 

But due to funding cuts, all Pop-Up Pantries closed last summer. Alma didn’t have anywhere to go. Volunteers lost their connection to community. Thousands of people in San Francisco and Marin lost their regular source of food. 

The Food Bank worked to expand capacity across its partner network and transfer as many participants as possible to neighborhood food pantries.  

Susie Wong, volunteer pantry supervisor, was already running two PCC food pantries: a Saturday senior pantry and a Thursday distribution at Cameron House. So, when Lesley Kraechan, an energetic, cheerful Lions Club volunteer from the North Beach Pop-Up, approached Susie about opening a third pantry, she thought they’d be stretched too thin. Then she realized the Pop-Up Pantry volunteers were eager to help.  

“These North Beach and Bessie Carmichael volunteers still wanted to work,” Susie recalled. “[Lesley and I] had like 50 people sign up, saying, ‘Please let me, I wanna help.'” 

Together, these volunteers opened the pantry less than two months after the Pop-Ups closed. Alma came to PCC to ask if she could get on the waitlist. Now, she’s grateful to pick up groceries even closer to home. 

Roots in the Community 

Susie has deep connections to Chinatown, which is why she still volunteers here despite living in the East Bay. She worked at Chinatown Community Development Center for 19 years building affordable housing. “I saw that these folks really lived with very little income,” she recalls. “A lot of them worked in the United States for decades, but they never got their Social Security because of under the table pay. They’re hardworking, but they’re struggling.” 

Like Susie, Lesley’s commitment to the pantry is rooted in her work serving the community. A physical therapist and member of PCC, Lesley started volunteering with the Food Bank during the pandemic. She works with women survivors of violence with chronic conditions and sees firsthand how poor nutrition contributes to their pain and illness. Leslie says she’s grateful that she can support the Food Bank’s mission to provide the fresh fruits, vegetables, and other nutritious food that can improve health and wellness. “If we can get healthy food to people, we can have a society of people that are healthier, happier, better,” she says. 

Nothing Goes to Waste 

With her fresh produce in hand from the pantry, Alma is already thinking about what she’ll cook next.  

“With what I get here, I can keep cooking for my family and not worry about wasting anything,” she says. 

For Alma, cooking is how she shows she cares. And with volunteers like Susie and Lesley stepping up alongside the Food Bank, this pantry ensures she’ll have the fresh, healthy food she needs to keep cooking for her family. For Alma, that’s where joy is: in the cooking, and in sharing what she makes. 

Holly Finds Food, Dignity, and Joy at the Community Market

November 24, 2025

A Bright Start 

Sunlight streams through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Western Addition Community Market. The space is modern and welcoming, with the cheerful energy of a neighborhood bodega — energy matched by Holly. We met her as she moved excitedly through the aisles of produce and groceries, planning out what she would take home. 

“Some greens, applesauce, potatoes, carrots, eggs. Oh my god — peaches, nectarines, grapes,” she exclaims. “It is really a blessing to come here.” 

A New Way to Shop 

For six years, Holly has relied on Neighborhood Food Pantries for fresh produce each week, helping her avoid hard choices between paying bills or going hungry. When the Western Addition Community Market opened in July, it offered her a new way to shop. Now, Holly decides exactly what she takes home, how much, and when she picks it up. 

“It’s like shopping through Safeway,” she says, calling it “top-of-the-line food.” 

 Community Markets are open multiple days each week with flexible hours, making it easier for people to shop when it works for them.  

That flexibility matters to Holly, who is currently out of work and managing the ups and downs of her mental health. 

“You go in and everything is organized,” she says. “I’ve been to a lot of pantries, but this pantry here is the best. You walk through here and you pick what you want. You don’t just have to take it.” 

Simple Joys, Real Respect 

At the Western Addition Community Market, Holly savors the small, human moments of grocery shopping that many take for granted: tapping on watermelons and smelling ripe produce. 

“It makes me feel good,” she says. “You smell it and you know it’s fresh. It makes me feel good to be able to touch what I get.” 

For Holly, those simple acts restore dignity and a sense of normalcy for her in a period marked by unemployment and financial strain. The market helps ease her fears of hunger, giving her confidence that she can put meals on the table. Just as importantly, she values the respect she feels every time she comes to shop. 

“Even though I’m at my lowest right now, I feel like I have something,” Holly says. “They’re treating me with respect. Even though I’m not working, I feel respected. It’s dignity.”

The Shutdown Showed Hunger is a Policy Choice

November 13, 2025

After 43 days, the longest government shutdown in our nation’s history is finally over. Congress and the President approved a spending package that funds some departments, including USDA and federal food and nutrition programs, including the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), through Sept. 30, 2026. This means that the 42 million SNAP recipients — 125,000 in San Francisco and Marin — whose benefits were paused will now receive their benefits.  

The shutdown highlighted the fragility and uncertainty of SNAP, our nation’s most effective anti-hunger, anti-poverty program, that also strengthens local economies. Without urgent action, SNAP (known as CalFresh in California) is slated to be gutted.  In July, the approved federal budget included devastating cuts of $186 billion to SNAP, which will have severe effects on our state. According to the Urban Institute and California Budget & Policy Center, 3.1 million Californians could lose some or all their SNAP/CalFresh benefits. These projected losses equal to 1.1 billion lost meals annually in California. Last year, combined, all the state’s food banks provided almost 650 million meals.  

 We must continue to fight to not only fully restore SNAP nationally, but to advocate for and develop California policies and programs to improve access and increase the adequacy of CalFresh benefits.   

Given the increased demand and uncertainties our community is facing, San Francisco-Marin Food Bank will continue our Shutdown Community Response programs until Dec. 31. These temporary resources include expanded home-delivered groceries and increased food support for partners and neighbors unable to access a food pantry. If you need food, or know someone who does, please click the Find Food button on the Food Bank’s homepage (sfmfoodbank.org).  

The government shutdown demonstrated that hunger is a policy choice. San Francisco-Marin Food Bank is steadfast in working toward policies that will combat hunger, not cause it, while expanding critical community food access programs for people experiencing hunger today. 

Partial SNAP Funding is Far From What’s Needed to Address This Hunger Crisis

November 3, 2025

In response to two court rulings, the White House and USDA agreed to partial payments of $4.65 billion in contingency resources to fund SNAP for the month of November. Partial funding is far from what is needed to address this hunger crisis. What’s needed is to fund SNAP for the month is $9 billion. But even though the federal government has the resources to do so, it chose not to help the 42 million people in our nation who rely on SNAP to feed their families.  

Much is still unknown. The timing and amounts of those partial payments are unclear and leaves 90,000 households in San Francisco and Marin uncertain about their benefits, and when and if they will receive them. Partially funding SNAP, with no plan in place for December, is an abdication of responsibility to those who rely on the program as a lifeline.  

Even in the midst of this crisis, we must not lose sight that historic cuts to SNAP have already been approved by Congress and will be enacted in the months ahead. This shutdown foreshadows the lasting harm to come. Unless Congress chooses to strengthen this vital program instead of its planned gutting, we will witness the gradual but intentional unraveling of the most effective anti-hunger program in our nation. 

Our Food Bank remains committed in our efforts to make sure people have the food they need today and will not retreat from our mission of serving those struggling to put food on their tables. Our Shutdown Community Response continues as planned. We are undeterred and will continue to work for policies that eliminate – not cause – hunger.