“It’s like an Easter egg hunt!”  Those were the words of Benny Pausanos, Senior Fresh Rescue Driver at the Food Bank – and he meant it quite literally. On a sunny Wednesday morning in April, Benny was busy digging through banana boxes in a Trader Joe’s parking lot, searching for stray cartons of eggs while repackaging a caseload of donated groceries.  Benny’s quest might not immediately seem like a climate-related activity. But when it comes to fighting the climate crisis, food banking might be a bigger part of the solution than many realize. This Earth Day, let’s take a tour of Foo ..read more

Walking into La Raza Community Resource Center on a hot San Francisco summer day last year, we were immediately greeted by an extra layer of warmth: the enthusiastic welcome of La Raza’s staff and pantry volunteers. Nestled in the historic Mission district on Valencia Street, La Raza is a trusted one-stop shop for food and social services that’s been serving the Latinx community since 1979. Collaborating With Community  In partnership with the Food Bank, La Raza holds a farmer’s market style food pantry for the community on Wednesdays, serving roughly 330 families each week. Volunte ..read more

Volunteering with the Food Bank in May 2020 was really a no-brainer for Mitchell. As a retired government worker for various public health agencies, he already had a deep knowledge of epidemics and health outbreaks. Combined with the driving force of his faith, Mitchell knew he wanted to help his community out during a difficult and pivotal time.  “I come from a Jewish culture that mandates we help repair the world. I heard that the Food Bank needed volunteers, so I went down, I signed up and that’s where I’ve been,” Mitchell told us.  Community: An Antidote to Isolation Today, Mitc ..read more

Ask a regular volunteer at our Pop-up Pantries, or any Food Bank Pop-up staffer, and they’ll smile at the mention of Stephanie Chin and her dad, George. Stephanie and George started volunteering in the early days of the pandemic, and their friendly and fun presence has been a fixture at multiple weekly pantry sites ever since.   But it’s not only other volunteers and staffers who look forward to seeing them. Through their consistent dedication to volunteering, Stephanie and George also get to know many participants – and on top of social connection, these friendships can help build ..read more

If you asked Nick Selby his driving motivation to home-deliver groceries to neighbors during the pandemic, he simply felt it was the right thing to do: “I feel very strongly that people should not go hungry. I think that of all the things that humans confront, hunger is the worst. So, I just wanted to help make food available.” What he couldn’t have expected was to come away from his volunteering experience at the Food Bank with some new home décor — but more on that later.  From New Neighborhoods to Familiar Faces  After working in the warehouse and at different Food Bank pantries ..read more

It’s a simple question: what’s the dish you would make for a holiday gathering? But these answers reveal more than just food preferences. When we prepare a meal that means something to us and those we gather with, we bring a piece of ourselves and communal joy to the table. Our community is cooking up some delicious dishes as the holiday season kicks into high gear. But before we dive into their holiday food traditions, we must recognize that steep food prices combined with a sky-high cost of living are forcing many to turn to the Food Bank to afford a holiday meal for their table. And with s ..read more

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 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 ..read more

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 below. Next door, another restaurant dishes up steaming, juicy xiao long bao.  These two restaurants are where Food Bank pantry participant Su 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 ..read more

Here at the Food Bank, our mission is to end hunger in San Francisco and Marin. On its face, the solution might seem simple: provide nutritious food so people facing hunger can thrive, not just survive. But while providing food on the ground is an essential part of our services, we know it’s not enough to simply address the hunger we see today – we must also work to address its root causes and change the policies that allow hunger to continue in our communities and plan for long-term solutions. That’s why, in partnership with our community and other supporters, our Policy and Advocacy team wo ..read more

  Jalal Alabsi is many things: he’s a formerly-practicing doctor, he’s an immigrant from Yemen, he’s a resident of San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. All these identities and more come together to inform his comprehensive work to end food insecurity in his community. From securing funding for halal food vouchers to lowering stigma around accessing assistance, Jalal has collaborated with organizations like our partner Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation (TNDC) to help end hunger. Jalal’s years of successful activism are exactly why our partners at the Tenderloin Neighbo ..read more