While the Golden State Warriors fell short of their goal of an NBA Finals three-peat, fans of “Dub Nation” stepped up in a big way, raising thousands of dollars for their neighbors in what has become an annual tradition: the Food Bank Finals Challenge.

The Alameda County Community Food Bank and the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank asked Warriors fans to show they are more generous than Toronto Raptors fans when it comes to supporting their local community. When the series ended with Toronto capturing its first-ever NBA title, the true winner was the community at large. ACCFB and SFMFB collected a combined $20,000 to help feed neighbors in need on both sides of the Bay – enough for 45,000 meals.

Check out some of the news coverage of this year’s FBFC.

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CBC

Yahoo

CP24

Thousands more county residents soon will be eligible for CalFresh food benefits because of a change in state law.

Beginning June 1, an estimated 3,000 additional Marin residents are expected to qualify for the program, which stretches household budgets by allowing families to afford nutritious produce and other healthy options.

Read more about it in this story written by reporter Richard Halstead.

For the second year in a row members of the legendary Bay Area rock group Metallica went the extra mile to help alleviate hunger in communities all over the country. They encouraged their fans to sign up for volunteer shifts at 50 food banks around the country, including ours, as part of the band’s nonprofit All Within My Hands Foundation’s call for a national Day of Service.

The day was a huge success with over 100 fans crowding into our repack room for a meet-and-greet with the band’s iconic drummer Lars Ulrich.  Lars even rolled up his sleeves and helped pack oranges to help feed our neighbors in need.  The event garnered media attention.  See below for all the great press coverage we received.

ABC7

KRON4

KTVU2

KCBS Radio

Mercury News

Marin IJ

SF Gate

Revolver Magazine

Marin Patch

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And these PREVIEW stories from Rolling Stone Magazine and KCBS Radio.

If you love bubbly—and let’s be honest who doesn’t—then this is your week! Veuve Clicquot is hosting their 2nd annual Yelloweek starting today, May 11 in San Francisco.

Read more from Forbes Magazine Dining and Drinking Editor Chelsea Davis.

Here is another mention of our Yelloweek partnership from SF Station.

 

The San Francisco-Marin Food Bank has released our Missing Meals report, which shows the number of meals missed by low-income residents in San Francisco and Marin stood at just over 35 million in 2017 (the latest year of available data).

In order to close the hunger gap, the Food Bank is starting a major expansion at our San Francisco warehouse and upgrading our recently purchased facility in San Rafael.

The report and our announcement garnered attention from several local media outlets.

Front Page story in the San Francisco Chronicle

Bonus coverage on the SF Gate website

KTVU Fox 2 News – morning live shot

KTVU Fox 2 News – afternoon live interview with Paul

KPIX 5 coverage

KRON 4 coverage

KTSF 26 coverage

KQED coverage – morning news

KCBS Radio – Afternoon live interview with Paul

San Rafael Patch

For people needing food from San Francisco’s main food bank, one of the biggest hurdles was actually filling out the online form for food stamps.

The application was long, with more than 200 questions. It didn’t work on mobile phones. For people without home computers, it was hard to get through the process.

But the San Francisco Food Bank, which provides fresh vegetables and dry goods to more than 200,000 people in northern California, partnered with a technology nonprofit that helped bring the application process into the digital era.

Read more from Voice of America Reporter Deana Mitchell. 

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.

Read more in this Letter from Paul Ash that appeared in the Marin Independent Journal on March 31st.

 

You may remember that as the government shutdown continued through much of January, the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank stepped up to assist furloughed workers, including U.S. Coast Guard members and their families who all went weeks without paychecks.

One of the highlights was a special pantry that we hosted in January at Hamilton Field in Novato, providing free, fresh groceries to about 150 Coast Guard families.

Those families are all getting back on their feet – and recently reached out to the Food Bank to see about “returning the favor”.  That all came to a head on Saturday, March 16th, when several families donated extra nonperishable items and came in for a 2 hour volunteer session.

Check out the coverage from that day, including this video from KTVU Fox 2 News

This story from KCBS Radio reporter Keith Menconi

and this story from SF Eater

 

Formerly Homeless Veteran Gets Help, Now Gives Back

To witness 70-year-old Mike Bartell smiling, laughing, and caring for others while volunteering for the San Francisco Marin Food Bank, is to see a man who looks like he’s had a lifetime of experience spreading joy.

Bartell, however, is quick to point out that if you were to ask anyone who knew him at an earlier age, they would tell a different tale.  “They wouldn’t believe it,” Bartell said. “That grumpy old person … what happened to him?” 

What happened is that Bartell discovered, very late in life, that it’s never too late to turn one’s life around.

NBC Bay Area reporter Garvin Thomas interviewed Mike for a “Bay Area Proud” segment.   Click here to read more about Mike’s transformation in life, or watch the video below.

 

A staggering 1 in 4 people living in San Francisco needs food assistance. currently, the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank is a vital lifeline for over 140,000 people who rely on us for health food every week. But thousands more people need our help.

In an effort to help expand services to provide even more food to residents, the Food Bank is embarking on a plan to convert an old parcel of land near the San Francisco warehouse into a parking lot for community members who use our services, volunteers who help us everyday, and staff.

Check out some of the coverage, including this video from KPIX-5 Reporter Wilson Walker:

And this story in the San Francisco Examiner by reporter Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez:  Park or truck depot? Neighborhood groups and food bank tussle over Dogpatch land