Alma loves to cook for her husband, her daughters, and her neighbors. Sisig sizzling in the pan. Chicken congee, fragrant with fried garlic and spring onion. Tilapia steamed with tomatoes and garlic.
“Sometimes I share with the manager of my apartment,” she laughs. “He said he likes [my cooking].”
These days, making those meals takes more than culinary skills. It takes support.
Alma retired to care for her husband, who’s on dialysis. Living on a limited income, she depends on the food pantry at Presbyterian Church in Chinatown (PCC), part of the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank’s Neighborhood Food Network, for the nutritious food her husband needs to stay healthy.
“This pantry is a very big help,” she says. “Food is so expensive now.”
Alma is one of what will eventually be 350 neighbors served by this pantry at PCC. Her story shows exactly why opening it mattered so much, at a moment when hunger was deepening and help was disappearing.
Neighbors Refuse to Let Neighbors Go Hungry
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Food Bank launched Pop-Up Pantries across San Francisco and Marin in response to surging food insecurity. Alma went to the Stonestown Pop-Up during this time, grateful for a reliable food source while she was working but still struggling to make ends meet.
But due to funding cuts, all Pop-Up Pantries closed last summer. Alma didn’t have anywhere to go. Volunteers lost their connection to community. Thousands of people in San Francisco and Marin lost their regular source of food.
The Food Bank worked to expand capacity across its partner network and transfer as many participants as possible to neighborhood food pantries.
Susie Wong, volunteer pantry supervisor, was already running two PCC food pantries: a Saturday senior pantry and a Thursday distribution at Cameron House. So, when Lesley Kraechan, an energetic, cheerful Lions Club volunteer from the North Beach Pop-Up, approached Susie about opening a third pantry, she thought they’d be stretched too thin. Then she realized the Pop-Up Pantry volunteers were eager to help.
“These North Beach and Bessie Carmichael volunteers still wanted to work,” Susie recalled. “[Lesley and I] had like 50 people sign up, saying, ‘Please let me, I wanna help.'”
Together, these volunteers opened the pantry less than two months after the Pop-Ups closed. Alma came to PCC to ask if she could get on the waitlist. Now, she’s grateful to pick up groceries even closer to home.
Roots in the Community
Susie has deep connections to Chinatown, which is why she still volunteers here despite living in the East Bay. She worked at Chinatown Community Development Center for 19 years building affordable housing. “I saw that these folks really lived with very little income,” she recalls. “A lot of them worked in the United States for decades, but they never got their Social Security because of under the table pay. They’re hardworking, but they’re struggling.”
Like Susie, Lesley’s commitment to the pantry is rooted in her work serving the community. A physical therapist and member of PCC, Lesley started volunteering with the Food Bank during the pandemic. She works with women survivors of violence with chronic conditions and sees firsthand how poor nutrition contributes to their pain and illness. Leslie says she’s grateful that she can support the Food Bank’s mission to provide the fresh fruits, vegetables, and other nutritious food that can improve health and wellness. “If we can get healthy food to people, we can have a society of people that are healthier, happier, better,” she says.
Nothing Goes to Waste
With her fresh produce in hand from the pantry, Alma is already thinking about what she’ll cook next.
“With what I get here, I can keep cooking for my family and not worry about wasting anything,” she says.
For Alma, cooking is how she shows she cares. And with volunteers like Susie and Lesley stepping up alongside the Food Bank, this pantry ensures she’ll have the fresh, healthy food she needs to keep cooking for her family. For Alma, that’s where joy is: in the cooking, and in sharing what she makes.
Share