Ending hunger in San Francisco and Marin takes more than distributing food. It takes changing the systems and structures that created the hunger crisis in the first place, and it takes neighbors who have faced hunger helping to lead the way. That is the idea behind the Food Bank’s peer leadership programs, where neighbors turn their own experience into change, some by connecting others to services, others by pushing for policies that can end hunger.
On a sunny June afternoon in the Welcome Center of our Pennsylvania Avenue warehouse, a gathering was held to honor two graduating cohorts of the Food Bank’s peer leadership programs: the 13 members in the second Food CARE Council and the eight inaugural Peer Navigators.
Advocacy rooted in experience
The Food CARE Council brings together neighbors who have experienced hunger firsthand. It’s part of Seeding Change, the Food Bank’s three-year effort to address hunger at its roots. Over a few hours together each month, members learn the ropes of advocacy and public speaking, get a feel for how policy actually gets made and put their own experience to work on the Food Bank’s policy agenda.
This year’s group leaned into community, opening every meeting with the same simple question: How is everyone doing?
“This year we focused less on pushing every detail of how a bill becomes law, and more on gathering, talking and sharing what our neighbors are seeing,” said Policy and Advocacy Manager Alex Raffanti, who leads the program. “We found the same issues come up no matter where you live. That’s what brings us together.”
Members took that shared vision to Sacramento for California Hunger Action Day, where they and some Peer Navigators sat down with their own legislators and wrote postcards for their neighbors.
When we asked Gianna, a student who relies on Gator Groceries, San Francisco State University’s community food site run in partnership with the Food Bank, what graduation meant to her, she didn’t mention policy at all.
“It means I found a second family for myself,” she said. “I found my community, and I found what I’m really passionate about, which is ending hunger.”
Jessica joined the Council after being laid off from a job of 27 years, losing her health insurance the same day. Advocacy, it turned out, came easier than she expected.
“I would never have gone to Sacramento or written a postcard on my own,” she said. “But the message that came through, over and over, was that your voice matters. Not everybody can speak up. So if you can, you should.”
Connecting neighbors to more than food
The same conviction drives our Peer Navigators. Where the Food CARE Council pushes to change policy, the Peer Navigator program helps open pathways to mobility. Peer Navigators use their own experience to connect neighbors with services beyond food. They help neighbors secure stable housing and connect them to rental assistance workshops. They also guide families through energy assistance applications, easing the burden of utility debt. Job searches, childcare and countless other referrals round out their work, each one specifically tailored to that person’s unique needs.
“While many resources and services are available, navigating them can feel overwhelming and time-consuming when you’re already facing other challenges,” said Bilingual Community Connections Manager Guadalupe Gonzalez, who leads the program. “Our volunteers have helped bridge that gap by providing compassionate, one-on-one support. They have also supported participants with job searches, connected families to childcare resources.”
Glenn has served as both a Food CARE Council member and a Peer Navigator. Not long ago, a market visitor stopped to thank him for his support — a referral had helped her land a job.
“Out of the 150 hours my coworkers and I have spent doing this work, that one hour really paid off,” he said. “We brightened a person’s life, and their family’s life.”
Two paths to the same goal
Whether they’re meeting a legislator in Sacramento or a neighbor at the market, these cohorts show what happens when the people motivated to end hunger — either by personal experience or dedication to their community — step forward to do so. We’re so proud of this year’s graduates, and we can’t wait to see where they lead next.
about his health and also wanted to make sure that he didn’t lose access to the pantry’s services if he was still in need of the food. That’s when I remembered that included in the handwritten card that his granddaughter had given me, was her mom’s contact info. 
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With her rescue dog Charlie slung over her hip in a crossbody bag (she says, “my passion is, I love dogs”), Cilla Lee was hard to miss at the Stonestown Pop-up Pantry where we met. And as she talked, three things became apparent: Cilla is a woman with a lot of ideas, a lot of drive, and a lot of herself to give. A San Franciscan since the age of five, she says that the pandemic “made [her] step up” when it came to supporting her community. 
upon the concept of “Buy-Nothing Groups,” virtual and occasionally in-person communities where immediate neighbors exchange all types of goods, services and information– all for free, all from their own abundance, all as part of a “gift economy.” 
Cilla became the admin of the Outer Richmond Buy Nothing group on Facebook. While food isn’t often the primary focus of Buy Nothing groups, in the early pandemic, food donations started rolling in. At first, she started out by making baked goods and offering them up to add a little sweetness to her neighbor’s days. 
At the Food Bank, we’re grateful to learn from and be in partnership with people like Cilla, who use their knowledge of their neighbors to find hyper-localized, community-specific solutions and novel ways to fight hunger. Ultimately, like Cilla says, at the heart of it all is the gift of connecting with our neighbors– and food is a pathway to do just that. 
We met Hui Yu at her neighborhood pantry in the SOMA district, where she volunteers regularly and picks up groceries for her and her husband as well. Prior to retirement, Hui Yu worked in a restaurant kitchen, so she’s no stranger to feeding others. Now, she often cooks meals for friends in her senior living facility who can’t make it out to the pantry. Poultry was at the top of Hui Yu’s list as a holiday main: “
cookies)
basis, traditional recipes that comes down from your family. My favorite recipe that was passed down to me is my mother’s okra.” At first thoughtfully pondering what else makes up her usual holiday table, Barbara began quickly listing other favorites: “
neighborhood pantry. He’s a military retiree and a volunteer at his local pantry, where he also picks up groceries for him and his wife. For his family, the holidays are about the joining of different traditions. “I have a traditional turkey dinner, where I usually go up to my sister’s house for Thanksgiving. And then I host a turkey dinner for my wife’s family. My wife’s Chinese, so we tend to do Chinese vegetables, mashed potatoes and cranberries [on the side].”
As Program Manager at the Food Bank, Kim is around good food quite a bit! But nothing quite compares to her family recipe for naw mai fan. “This is my mom’s recipe. She learned how to make this from my grandmother, an immigrant from the 
Sharing is caring! María is a mom, volunteer, and pantry participant in San Rafael. She told us that her family embraces potlucks during the holidays, but also for camping trips and other gatherings throughout the year. 
Wei Zong join other participant-volunteers in providing healthy groceries to their neighbors while also receiving food assistance themselves. For Jiakuang and his family, Thursday mornings at Cornerstone have been a time not only to receive and distribute food, but to mingle, talk, and laugh with other volunteers and food bankers.
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