The San Francisco-Marin Food Bank plans to close outdoor “pop-up” pantries in San Rafael and Mill Valley by June 2025.
Those, as well as the rest of their pop-up pantries in San Francisco, are some of the cutbacks that the nonprofit is now planning as pandemic-era funding and food support from federal, state, and local governments is expected to be depleted in two years.
Last month, the food bank issued an early warning about the looming cuts that includes the closure of all of the food bank’s emergency pop-up pantries in Marin and San Francisco counties. They stressed there will be no immediate reductions to services.
The food bank’s staff is now seeking more partners to help distribute food. They hope to reopen the food bank network’s pantries that were closed due to the pandemic.
“Over time, we can work with our community together to plan, to adapt,” said the food bank’s executive director, Tanis Crosby. “We want to be able to assist as many people we can as long as we can, and we want to grow our partnerships to continue accessible, dignified services.”
During the 2022-23 fiscal year, the food bank served an average of 56,000 households per week, and about 6,000 of them were in Marin County, said Keely Hopkins, the food bank’s senior communications manager.
Her staff projects they will serve roughly 40,000 households per week in Marin and San Francisco counties by June 2025, which will be 20% more than before the pandemic.
Assisted residents in Marin received 8 million pounds of food in the last fiscal year that ended in June.
Two major cuts hit the food bank’s pandemic response programs this fiscal year. Most of the funding for those programs came from a San Francisco Human Services Agency contract, Hopkins said. That agency’s funding was slashed from $10 million in the 2022-23 fiscal year to $6 million in the current year. Hopkins said that the funds are anticipated to be zero by the 2024-25 fiscal year.
The other hit is food distributed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which was reduced from 23.8 million pounds in 2021 to 6.5 million in the fiscal year that ended in June 2023, according to the food bank.
The food bank distributes groceries to 237 pantries that are mostly run by partner organizations; 44 of them are based in Marin County, Hopkins said.
Most of the food bank’s fresh produce is donated. Much of their fruits and vegetables comes from the Farm to Family program that has California farms donate surplus produce to the food bank. In return, the food bank pays for shipping and handling costs.
Crosby said that the food bank also purchases grains and proteins, and they also accept food donated from supermarkets.
The need for food assistance in San Francisco and Marin counties remains as inflated food costs persist. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that Bay Area food prices rose 3.4% between August 2022 and this August.
Crosby said that grocery costs is the top concern heard from people served by the food bank.
“Of course, housing is a high expense, but what we’re hearing from participants is that those inflationary pressures and the costs of food are making it hard to afford getting the food that we all need,” she said.
This year, the food bank released its annual “Hunger Report,” which detailed results from a survey of more than 9,000 clients in San Francisco and Marin counties. They reported that 66% of the households they serve had seniors, 37% had children, 39% had single parents, and 60% contained at least one employed person.
Crosby noted that the pandemic brought the issue of food insecurity to light.
“A lesson we all learned from the pandemic that will stay with us is that food insecurity may sometimes be hidden, and it is vital to be resolute in our fight against hunger,” she said.
On a crisp Tuesday morning, about 100 people lined up to pick up fresh produce, frozen chickens, and rice from a “pop-up pantry” set up at Pickleweed Park in San Rafael’s Canal neighborhood.
Staff and volunteers set up 12 stations that each had different foods for visitors to choose. Mothers with children, seniors, immigrants and young working people collected their food at this pantry that’s held every Tuesday morning.
The San Francisco-Marin Food Bank opened nearly 25 pop-up pantries in San Francisco and Marin counties to mass distribute to community members in need after the Covid-19 pandemic began. Their San Rafael pantry is one of the smaller ones and typically serves up to 400 people, said Hopkins.
Jason Nunan, a community coordinator for the food bank, helped manage the San Rafael pantry on Tuesday. He began volunteering after the 2020 COVID-19 shutdown cost him his job as the general manager of The Village Pub, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Woodside.
“Working here, I feel good when I go home at night while at the Michelin-starred restaurant and selling $300 caviar service, I did not feel as good,” Nunan said. “Even when my back hurts, I feel good.”
Alejandro Bela stood in line to register for a time slot when he could get groceries at the pantry. He works odd jobs and volunteer work, and he said that he visits the pantry whenever he has the time. Bela noted the rising cost of living.
“For now, it’s expensive, everybody is not paid well,” he said.
Reine Reymundo, a Canal resident and a restaurant worker, stood at the front of the line and waited for the pantry to open. She said that the service helps her a lot, but she spoke more about large families in need after hearing that the San Rafael pantry will eventually close.
“It’s going to be a big struggle for families,” Reymundo said. “If you don’t get this help, you won’t have much money left.”
