David’s Story | Security Alert

January 22, 2018

As a security guard in San Francisco, David’s job is to protect life and property.  It’s somewhat ironic that at home, he and his family face another serious threat: hunger.

“My salary is decent,” said the 62-year-old father of three. “But with kids and living in this city, where it’s so expensive, I’m finding more and more that it’s simply not enough.”

High Cost of Living

David’s story is one told all too often in this city.  A recent report from the California Budget and Policy Center finds that San Francisco tops the list of most expensive counties in California when trying to support a family.  For example, a family of four, with two working parents, needs to earn about $111,000 a year to simply cover the basics of rent, food, healthcare, transportation, child care and taxes. Marin County ranks second at $110,000 a year.  Both figures far outweigh what David is taking home in his paycheck.

“My wife is unable to work right now, so it’s up to me to support her and the kids,” he says.  Two of those kids are high school boys. The third is David’s 13-year-old 8th grade daughter, Shreena, who attends James Denman Middle School in the city’s Balboa Park neighborhood. It’s here where he and his family find a little bit of relief. For the past several months, they have been accessing the Health Children’s pantry on campus, picking up a bag filled with fresh produce, protein, and staple grains every week.

David is most impressed with all the fresh produce they are able to get at the pantry. “The kids love all the fruit – the apples, pears, and oranges. I like the fresh vegetables,” he says excitedly. “The best part is that some of the food lasts for several days. Some of the items, like the chicken, I’m able to freeze when I get home and cook it a couple of days later.

A Better Community

In the end, David figures the Food Bank is saving him and his family a couple hundred dollars a month.  With teenagers who are constantly growing out of clothes and shoes, that money seems to disappear quite regularly. Still, it’s a comfort for him knowing that every Thursday afternoon he’ll be able to get a grocery bag filled with healthy food if he needs it.

“Some people say that it’s a waste of time to help the people of this city who can’t afford to feed themselves. I say that’s not right,” David says. “We are all making this community better in our own way, and it’s important to protect that.”

Healthy Children | Monday is Pantry Day

July 28, 2017

Later this month, it’s back to school for thousands of children all over the Bay Area.  A great many will likely groan when they hear the “Brapp! Brapp! Brapp!” of the alarm clock, but 9-year-old Za’niya is quite the opposite.  The incoming fourth grader at John Muir Elementary School in San Francisco actually looks forward to getting up early – especially on Mondays.  You see, Monday is pantry day at her school.  It’s when Za’Niya rises at 6am and helps her Great Aunt Jeanette, and her two cousins, Jayden and Jamire, set up the Healthy Children Pantry in the school’s cafeteria. Serving about 50 families every week, John Muir is one of 46 schools in San Francisco and Marin that partner with the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank to host pantries for students and families throughout the school year.

“Six o’clock is kinda early, but it’s okay because I know we’re helping out a lot of people who don’t have enough food at home to eat,” says Za’Niya, as she maneuvers a box of produce on a table in the school’s multi-purpose room.

Za’Niya is partial to the apples that find their way to the pantry: “They’re sweet and I really like it.  I put them in my backpack or my jacket pocket and eat it at recess.”

Jeanette has volunteered as the pantry coordinator for a few years, motivated by the need she sees among the families who attend John Muir. Almost 90 percent of the students are eligible for the free and reduced-price lunch program.

Now that she’s retired, Jeanette finds it increasingly difficult to stretch her budget to cover living expenses. “It used to be that I would pass on taking food from the pantry. I would leave it for other families because I felt like they needed it more,” she says. “But now, I’m finding that my own Social Security checks aren’t covering all the bills. My family is also struggling, so I take a box of food from the pantry too – some for me, but mostly to make sure Za’Niya and her cousins have good food to eat at home.”

For busy families, accessing fresh, healthy food right on campus, just before the bell rings on Monday mornings, is a great help.

Ryan Lawler, Kindergarten teacher says, “It’s hard for a lot of our families; some work two or three jobs. They’re trying to get their kids ready in the morning, to get them on the bus, to get them here to school on time. So with the pantry right here at school, our parents have a convenient, reliable source of food to sustain their families all week long.”

Last year, about 4,000 families were served by Healthy Children Pantries like the one at John Muir Elementary. These farmers’ market-style pantries provide low-income parents with fresh fruits and vegetables, lean protein such as chicken or eggs, and pantry staples like rice and beans.

Please give today to help parents provide their children with the food they need to stay healthy and thrive.