Local radio station KGO 810 am is broadcasting all day today from local food banks. Their news features and call-in programs are focused on providing food to our neighbors who are in tough times. (More information and to donate.)
Good for KGO. I appreciate their publicity of an issue we would like to pretend doesn’t exist. KGO is featuring the stories of the recipients (who are frighteningly “like us”) and the stories of the food bank staff.
I personally have worked with two projects that receive food from the San Francisco Food Bank:
- One program gives temporary shelter to homeless men during the winter months. The Food Bank gives the shelter all of the food that the shelter cooks the men for the dinner and breakfast.
- The other offers a free after-school program to children from very low income families in San Francisco’s Tenderloin and Western Addition neighborhood. The Food Bank provides afternoon snacks and nutrition to the kids to allow them to focus on play and learning.
My friends are involved in another program that distributes Food Bank food as grocery bags to families so that they have something to eat at home.
I know the San Francisco Food Bank is hurting financially. I assume the other agencies are in a bad way, too. More people need their help and governmental and corporate grants and way down.
I gave a small extra donation to the San Francisco Food Bank this morning. If you are able, will you please join me.
(More information and to donate.)
The web page linked to above gives you more information. There’s an address to send money to. There’s a phone number to call: 800-469-0983.
Or, you can do what I did and click on the online donation option. The secure site gives you a choice of which San Francisco Bay Area food bank you want your money to go to: I choose the San Francisco and Marin Food Bank because they help the people closest to me.
If you can, give a whole bunch of money! If you don’t have a whole bunch, how about giving up a small luxury for a week and donate that amount.
