Keeping Each Other Healthy: Gary’s Story

July 8, 2024

Once a week, a familiar face stops by a neighborhood food pantry in the Richmond district for an afternoon volunteer shift: coordinating the check-in process, breaking down cardboard, and helping share groceries with hundreds of neighbors each week.  

Meet Gary. He’s a retired special education teacher and a regular pantry volunteer: “I have had cordial interactions almost universally at the pantry, and I find being outside positively reinforcing,” he shared.  

But socializing and fresh air aren’t the only reasons he chose to volunteer with the Food Bank.  

“My rejoinder is that during COVID, I didn’t leave the house. I was at high risk, and you fed me. So, I see this as my responsibility to reciprocate,” Gary told us.  

High Risk and Housebound 

Gary, a long-time San Francisco resident, described his feelings in the early part of the pandemic as a sense that “the sky was falling.”  

I’m a hypochondriac. I was in a high-risk group, so I literally did not leave my house for a long time,” he shared. As people plundered grocery store shelves for food and toilet paper, Gary said there was one thing that helped put food on the table and gave him some peace of mind.  

“The Food Bank really massaged my anxiety about the contagion. It was pivotal. I did have people who were kind enough to go shopping for me too, but my home-delivered groceries were very helpful.”  

HDG to Farmer’s Market-Style 

Gary lives on his pension income – so even before record inflation hit, his pre-pandemic grocery routine involved walking to a variety of stores and markets to get the best deals and buy food in bulk. The health risks of the pandemic made this routine impossible for him, but home-delivered Food Bank groceries helped Gary offset the pressure on his budget and stay nourished with fresh vegetables.  

“I used the produce a lot in salads and in pasta. I would sauté vegetables, add some condiments, spice it up a bit, and have a lot of pasta,” he recounted. “It was a preponderance of produce!” 

When he felt safe to do so, Gary began attending the weekly in-person food pantry near his home. Now with both experiences under his belt, he’s an enthusiastic advocate for the farmer’s market-style selection at his neighborhood food pantry, which helps avoid what he calls “lentil-bean syndrome.” 

“You would get lentil beans in every [home] delivery, and I still have them. I really like lentils, but it was a lot,” he shared. “I think that this format is far better, because people can decline [what they don’t want], and it’s just far more efficient.” 

Keeping Each Other Healthy 

Before Gary left to begin his volunteer shift, he reflected on the past four years. Thanks to his own network of support – friends, neighbors and groceries from the Food Bank – Gary was able to stay healthy and safe during the height of the pandemic. But he knows not everyone had that good fortune. 

“A real concern of mine is community healthcare,” he shared. “Had we a more empathetic government, a lot of people would be alive right now.” 

Every week, we see neighbors facing difficult choices between paying for food or healthcare. That’s why the Food Bank is tenacious in pushing for public policy that addresses the root causes of hunger, while also addressing the immediate need for food in our community. 

Forming a Support System 

As for Gary’s next steps? With the Food Bank’s Pop-up Pantries closing in June 2025 due to the end of pandemic-era funding, he’s already looking for new ways to volunteer and continue to be part of a support system for others. 

“I would be happy to work with youth. I would be happy to work with older people. I would be happy to walk people’s dogs if I can,” he laughed. “As human beings, we are empathetic. And when you [volunteer], you feel better. We all want to feel better.” 

 

 

 

 

Finding Joy with Ms. Chang

February 28, 2024

As rain drizzled down on an early Saturday morning at Florence Fang Community Garden (FFCF), Ms. Chang finished loading up her cart with groceries and beckoned us over to view her most recent crop: a bountiful patch of cauliflower! Each plant boasted a still-growing cauliflower head, already larger than an outstretched hand.  

Ms. Chang is an eight-year volunteer and five-year food pantry participant at FFCF, a Food Bank partner and beautiful one-acre community center located in Bayview-Hunters Point. “It’s a really diverse space, with all kinds of people,” Ms. Chang told us. “I live in Hunters Point, so I walk here. My motivation to come out was that I’m retired, and now I have free time! This is an opportunity to find some joy, and it’s just really fun to socialize.”  

Return of the Food Pantry 

It’s not only social hour at the farm: Ms. Chang, along with around 15-20% of other farm volunteers, stops by FFCF’s Saturday morning food pantry before beginning her farm workday. Though it was forced to close because of pandemic precautions, the pantry reopened with the support of the Food Bank back in February of 2023.  

Now, FFCF provides pantry essentials and fresh produce each week to mainly Chinese elders. It’s a much-needed service, especially as high prices persist and safety net programs are rolled back – because neighbors like Ms. Chang and her eldest daughter, whom she lives with, are already feeling the impacts. 

Ms. Chang shared her experience: “I have CalFresh, it helps me with getting groceries. It was definitely easier during the pandemic with their extra funding [emergency allotments]. But it barely holds me over now. I cope by just not buying as much – I have retirement (SSI) too, so I’m not completely depleted. It does feel like not enough sometimes, though.” 

Saturday (Farm)er’s Market 

Neighborhood pantries like FFCF help fill the gap with fresh, healthy food for thousands of neighbors across San Francisco and Marin who are facing similar difficulties. On the Saturday we visited, volunteers laid out items like rice, bok choy, beets, carrots and celery farmer’s market-style, so each participant could take or decline items as they wished. 

“It’s great to see all of the offerings and get to choose what I want to bring home. I tend to like everything, though,” Ms. Chang told us. “With today’s offerings, I’d throw together the carrots, celery, bok choy, throw some sort of meat in and make a lovely soup. It is great for bringing down inflammation in the body!” 

A Joyful Space 

Upon immigrating to San Francisco from Guangzhou, China in the 80s, Ms. Chang worked as a sewist in San Francisco Chinatown’s garment factories. Now retired, the farm offers a different, more enjoyable kind of work: “I get to do some work on the farm, grow green vegetables and romaine lettuce. I grow really big winter melons. It isn’t too strenuous, and we get to pick whatever jobs we want. Plus, I like the exercise!”  

As we talk, she helps another volunteer carry a basket of recent harvests up the hill, where they’ll be divided among the volunteers – “we all get to share our harvests with one another,” explained Ms. Chang. That’s not all they share, because food and fun go hand in hand at FFCF. Typically, Ms. Chang will volunteer with her two younger sisters, but her daughter and grandchildren also stop by occasionally: “There’s a lot of events and activities at the farm, and my family enjoys coming to these events. We throw parties, sing, dance, everything. You’ll have to come visit us when we put on talent shows!” 

After marveling at the beauty and vibrancy of the farm and learning what Ms. Chang is planting for spring (tong ho and yao choy!), we finally wave goodbye. The rain has stopped, the sun is beginning to peek out, and Ms. Chang heads back to her fellow volunteers. From the smile on her face, it’s safe to say that FFCF has built not only a flourishing farm or food pantry, but a true community on this plot of land.  

As Ms. Chang put it so succinctly: “I have a lot of friends here. Being here makes me happy.”