Tag: Thanksgiving story

Ming’s Story: “We Make Enough for All”

December 1, 2023

Peering in through the windows of a Cantonese barbeque spot in the Richmond district, your gaze meets a line of roast duck, dripping fatty juices onto pans of stir-fried noodles, vegetables, and roast pork Rows of ducks hang above trays of stir fried noodles, meats, and more.below. Next door, another restaurant dishes up steaming, juicy xiao long bao. 

These two restaurants are where Food Bank pantry participant Ming has worked for the past 10 years – first as a cook, now as kitchen manager of both operations. Though her job has steady hours, and she’s able to eat shift meals at work, inflation is still taking a toll on her household budget: “Groceries are really expensive,” she shared. “But even though it’s hard, I still have to support my three daughters.” 

That’s why her local food pantry makes all the difference. 

Pantry Ingredients Save More than Money 

Ming first learned about the Roosevelt Pop-up Pantry from a friend in 2020, when the pandemic shutSu Ming taking her lunch break from work down restaurants all over the Bay Area and put her and thousands of others out of work. As a single parent raising a high schooler, putting another daughter through college, and helping support her eldest daughter at the time, Ming needed some support of her own. Ever since, these weekly groceries from the pantry near her work have remained a crucial time- and money-saver for this busy mom.

“What I get here is easily enough for a few days, sometimes a week — it depends on what there is. I’m really grateful, but I have to be strategic,” Ming told us. Thousands of neighbors are performing this mental math each week, stretching their groceries out to cover as many meals as possible.  

Our survey of more than 9,000 Food Bank participants showed that single parent households like Ming’s are among those hit the hardest — 69% could not afford a $400 emergency expense, and 88% were worried about running out of food. And with the holiday season and family gatherings in full swing, the pressure to afford special ingredients on top of the essentials can be daunting. 

Holidays Taste Like Mom’s Cooking 

Even though year over year inflation has slowed, the cost of a holiday meal is still 13% higher compared to 2021. It’s no wonder why more than 50,000 households rely on groceries from the Food Bank as the base for their celebratory meals.  

For Ming, the holidays are all about reconnecting with her three daughters — and for her family, much of that connection happens through food. She says her older daughters head home for the holidays with one thing in mind: a home-cooked meal. 

“‘What tastes best is Mom’s cooking!’” Ming laughed, mimicking her daughters. “I make whatever they feel like. I make a soup with carrots, tofu, bean curd sheets, shiitake mushrooms, pork — it’s my daughters’ favorite.”  

Food Brings Joy Year-Round 

As the pantry is winding down for the day, Ming darts back into the restaurant and emerges with massive trays of stir-fried noodles and vegetables, braised pork, and fried rice. Food Bank staff and someFood Bank Community Coordinator Marcel and Su Ming are all smiles for lunch volunteers make their way over, dishing up portions buffet-style and gathering around the foldout table. Turns out, it’s not only Ming’s family that she’s bringing together over food. 

“I asked our chef to cook these dishes for the pantry staff – they like eating it,” she shrugged nonchalantly. “Our staff have to eat lunch too. We make enough for all of us, and then we can have lunch together.” 

As folks sit around laughing, chatting and eating in the sunshine, it’s clear this lunch tradition has morphed into something beyond a quick break from work. These meals are a weekly chance to slow down, connect, and be in community with others. And whether for a special occasion or a regular Tuesday afternoon, any day is a great day to share the joy of good food.  

 

 

A Holiday Like No Other

November 19, 2020

For many, Thanksgiving is synonymous with three important things: family, gratitude, and food. Unfortunately, COVID-19 is forcing many of us to rethink what those things mean this year.

For one family, the global pandemic is a time to establish new Thanksgiving traditions and cook familiar dishes, even if they can’t gather everyone around the same table.

“I kind of have a large family and my mother – she is 85 now – was the cook,” said Irie, a Food Bank participant. “We would go over to her house for dinner. So that won’t be happening this year.”

Irie lives with his wife in San Francisco’s Bayview District. A few years ago, he and his wife were in a motorcycle accident – she broke her spine. After the accident, neither of them were able to work their construction jobs, so they rely on disability and they are regularly coming to the Pop-up Food Pantry at Cornerstone Church. Since Irie was a little kid, Thanksgiving has always involved turkey and dressing, plenty of cakes and pies, cans of cranberry sauce, and greens. This year is no different. He has a special baster that will inject the marinade right into the turkey he is planning to fry. For dessert, he is making a couple of sour cream pound cakes plus, “my mother and my wife want me to make a German chocolate cake, and I want to make some banana pudding blend.”

It’s an ambitious menu for a small Thanksgiving, but Irie inherited his mom’s love of cooking, and whatever they don’t eat they are planning to share.

Keeping Traditions Going

Last year, with more leftover food at the end of their Thanksgiving dinner than they knew what to do with, Irie and his family said, “Let’s just go and just make a bunch of plates and just take it out to the hungry while the food is still warm.”

They ended up giving away 10 plates of food to unhoused folks in their neighborhood.

“It just felt so good. We thought, ‘let’s try to feed 20 people this year’. So that’s what we’re gonna do,” said Irie. Even though they’ll have fewer family members around the Thanksgiving table this year, “we’re going to cook the food up, make 20 plates, and go feed 20 people.”

One of those plates will go to his mom so he’ll at least be able to see her from a distance. By the sound of it, Irie’s mom and anyone else getting a Thanksgiving meal from him this year are in for a treat.

A Food Bank Thanksgiving

Food and community are at the heart of what we do here at the Food Bank, making this is an extra special time of year for us. Despite family gatherings being scaled back or canceled altogether this year, we are still planning to distribute extra food this month to help our community make Thanksgiving as special as possible.

In fact, we will give away enough food for 1.4 million Thanksgiving meals, up from 880,000 last year. That includes more than 232,000 pounds of chicken and 1 million pounds of produce.

Finding Gratitude in 2020

Even if this will be a holiday like no other, we want to ensure our community can still enjoy a celebratory family meal next week, no matter what form it takes.

“I’m just really thankful to have this Food Bank because I’m sure it helps a lot of people, including me,” said Irie. “At the same time, it helps me to help others, and that’s what I really want.”

Rosetta’s Story | Thanksgiving with the Family

October 25, 2017

When Rosetta was growing up in San Francisco, she was one of five children. She always looked forward to Sunday dinner because that’s when her daddy cooked. “He was the best cook in the neighborhood,” she said.

At Thanksgiving, Rosetta’s father would cook up a storm, somehow squeezing dozens of family members and friends into their small home for a festive holiday meal.

When Rosetta got older and had three sons of her own, she always felt that providing healthy, nutritious food was critical. Buying enough food was no big deal while she was married and working as a nurse.

However, when she was 40, Rosetta divorced and became disabled. Overnight, her monthly income was slashed in half, and she struggled to feed her sons.

“I worked so hard to keep my boys out of trouble,” said Rosetta. “The best way to do that was football. But they really did eat me out of house and home.”

Rosetta started attending the food pantry at her local church, where she picked up fresh produce and other groceries to nourish her children. Today, the church is one of the Food Bank’s 253 neighborhood pantries.

“Financially, the Food Bank saved me,” said Rosetta. “It allowed me to give my children the nutrition they needed to play sports. It’s those sports that kept them out of trouble.”

Today, Rosetta’s sons are all grown up and working hard to support their own families. At Thanksgiving, they’ll all come together. Rosetta will bring steamed greens she’s harvested from her small garden. Saving the ends of vegetables she receives from the Food Bank, she roots them in water, and then plants them in a tidy plot outside her apartment.

“This Thanksgiving, when I’m feeling gratitude for my family, I’ll also be feeling gratitude for the Food Bank for helping me feed my family healthy food,” said Rosetta. “The people who give to the Food Bank are like guardian angels.”

You can be a guardian angel for Rosetta and other neighbors in need by making a donation today.

Edith’s story | “How brave my mother was”

November 21, 2016

Food Bank staff member Edith collaborates with our pantry partners across San Francisco and Marin. This is her story.

“When I was growing up, my mother would take us to the food pantry. I was so embarrassed that my friends might see us and find out we didn’t have a lot of money.

As I got older and went to college, sometimes I couldn’t afford to eat, and I’d wait for the day I could go to the food pantry. What I realized as an adult was how brave my mother was. But I also came to appreciate the pantry volunteers who were always smiling, making me feel welcome, and creating a sense of community.

I knew that I wanted to give back and be a part of something that helped so many people. So I got a job at my local food Bank, and later came to the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank. In fact, I just celebrated my one-year work anniversary!

As someone who’s been hungry and stood in line at a Food Bank pantry and someone who now works for the Food Bank, I know the incredible impact people like you have on so many lives. The holidays are especially hard for those struggling with hunger. Together, let’s make everyone’s Thanksgiving special.”

Feeling inspired? Make a donation now to help us provide fresh, healthy food for neighbors throughout this holiday season.

“Thanksgiving is about being together.”

November 18, 2016

Seventy-six-year-old breast cancer survivor Barbara Johnson is one of the 350 participants who visit the Casa de Barro Church Food Bank pantry each week in San Francisco. She ambles in and is greeted by smiles, laughs, and warm welcomes from all the pantry volunteers.

Barbara worked almost her whole life doing clerical work and then as a medical assistant.  Now retired, her income is less than $800 per month. Without the Food Bank, she said she would be going hungry.

“There are so many fresh fruits and vegetables here that I couldn’t afford otherwise,” said Barbara. “And the volunteers are so nice and treat us with respect.”

Barbara especially loves the oranges, peaches, and grapes. One of her favorite vegetable recipes is to use Food Bank corn and canned tomatoes and add some store-bought sausage to make a succotash. Over the holidays, Barbara makes candied yams and baked chicken with the ingredients she gets at the pantry.

“It really helps me stretch my budget at the holidays because there’s more family to feed,” said Barbara who has her brother, daughter, nieces, and nephews over. But she misses her son who died of a heart attack at age 52.

Barbara says one of the best things about the Food Bank pantry is that there’s a sense of community. People check in about each other’s lives, whether someone’s facing an illness like breast cancer, or there’s a death in the family.

“Whether it’s here at the church, or if you see people on the street, the pantry folks are friendly and ask how you are doing,” said Barbara. “It’s not about handouts, it’s about being together.”

Casa de Barro in San Francisco’s Outer Mission neighborhood is one of more than 250 weekly pantries in our region where the Food Bank distributes healthy groceries to neighbors in need.

Thanksgiving at the Pantry Casa De Barro

November 18, 2016

If you visit the Casa de Barro food pantry on a typical Saturday, you can’t help but be amazed by how well it runs. It’s like clockwork: more than 300 families rapidly move through the church, each one receiving 2-3 bags of fresh groceries, all in the course of just a couple hours. A small but mighty army of about 20 volunteers is at the heart of the action – setting up, helping participants, restocking items and ensuring all runs smoothly.

One of the largest pantries in the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank network, Casa de Barro takes on a new rhythm when Thanksgiving rolls around. The pace is a bit slower, the smiles are wider, the hugs last longer. Although participants and volunteers chat and check in with each other every week, the feelings of caring and community reach a giddy peak during the holiday season.

“When Thanksgiving is coming, people make a point to say ‘thanks’ out loud and a lot more often,” said Mayella, who lives nearby with her family and has volunteered at the pantry for eight years. “People make an extra effort to show they care, and we feel more connected. Even though I volunteer every week, at the holidays I think even more about how important and rewarding it is to help each other.”

casa-mid

For many participants, the whole chicken they receive from the Food Bank for Thanksgiving is the centerpiece of their holiday meal. Margarita, who visits Casa de Barro pantry with her young son most Saturdays, said, “Getting food here helps a lot.  It makes our holiday much better.  My family has something wonderful to eat, and we celebrate that.  In addition to the chicken, we prepare our favorite foods like posole and tamales.”

casa-b-thanks-mid

Longtime volunteer Vicky appreciates the acts of kindness that proliferate during the season: “People do many, small things to show their thanks – they will bring notes for the volunteers or small candies to share.  They are so grateful for what they receive and they want to give something, whatever they can, to the volunteers to say ‘thank you.’

“The Saturday before Thanksgiving, there is a lot of excitement,” Vicky added. “People are so happy to get food for their big meal, and they are looking forward to celebrating.  They dress up when they are coming to the pantry and you can see everyone’s face is full of joy.”

 

Thanksgiving Feast Brings Community Together

November 18, 2016

When the calendar turns to November, excitement starts to build among residents at the Derek Silva Community, a supportive-housing facility in the heart of San Francisco. The San Francisco-Marin Food Bank provides food for a weekly pantry at the Community, which is home to 70 people who were formerly homeless or are at risk of becoming homeless. Many of the residents have a triple diagnosis of physical health problems, mental health issues, and substance use.

“Thanksgiving is one of the highlights of the year,” says Kevin Fauteux, director at Derek Silva Community. “Residents really look forward to it and start getting ready with decorations weeks ahead of time. On Thanksgiving, we all gather together to share a communal meal prepared by volunteers from St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church with turkey, cranberries, and all the fixings provided by the Food Bank.

“For some of our residents who are withdrawn and isolate themselves, our holiday celebration is a reason for them to connect and participate,” he adds. “The emphasis is on the festivities, the party, and celebration – it’s not about being sick or needing help.”

One of the residents, David, says he looks forward to the celebration every year. “It’s nice to be able to invite a guest; we get dressed up, and it’s classy,” he says.

In addition to the communal Thanksgiving meal, some residents host their own celebrations with family and friends. Vicky, who invites her father, mother, and brother for the holiday said she loves getting a whole chicken from the Food Bank at Thanksgiving.

“Sometimes I roast it. I like the cranberries too, and I’ll steam the sweet potatoes,” Vicky says. “My family gets together for a nice Thanksgiving lunch, and we talk about what we are grateful for.”

The Food Bank’s weekly pantry helps make Thanksgiving extra special for neighbors at Derek Silva Community and continues to nourish them all year long.

“When someone has food, it makes a huge difference in their health,” says Fauteux. “Good nutrition makes them feel better, and they like knowing they can count on this food every week.”