Bay Area Hunger News

Bay Area Food Banks Seek Community Support to Help Raise $100,000 to Feed Hungry People during ABC7’s Share Your Holiday Food Drive

2011-12-14T11:07:00.000-08:00

Daylong event in partnership with ABC7 to help raise funds for local food banks

With unemployment remaining at 9 percent in the San Francisco Bay Area, the demand for food assistance continues to increase. Bay Area Food Banks, a collaboration of eight local food banks serving 11 northern California counties, are serving the needs of more than 600,000 Bay Area residents each month. To continue to meet the needs at this scale, they look to the community for support. You can help! ABC7's Share Your Holiday Food Drive, benefitting Bay Area Food Banks, launches bright and early on Thursday, December 15 with the goal of raising $100,000 during the daylong event.

“We know that many Bay Area families have been affected by the downturn of the economy, and we want to do our part to help support the local Food Banks. We are hopeful our generous ABC7 viewers will come together and support their local food bank and help feed hungry families this holiday season,” said William Burton, ABC7 President and General Manager.

On December 15 , starting at 5:30 a.m., ABC7 will be asking viewers to make a donation to their local food bank using one of these 7 Ways To Give:

Donate to your local food bank online at www.abc7news.com
Text FEED to 80077 to donate $10
Mail your check made payable to “Food Bank” to ABC7 Food Drive, 900 Front Street, San Francisco, CA 94111
Call in your donation in to 800-515-1719 - Volunteers will be on hand to take your donation
Find your local food bank on Facebook and “like” their page to stay updated on how you can get involved
Drop off a donation of non-perishable food items to the live food drive location at Alameda County Community Food Bank or at your local food bank
Schedule time to volunteer at your local food bank. Volunteers are needed throughout the year!

“We are truly grateful to ABC7 for the time, hard work and energy they have given to support the Bay Area Food Banks,” said Larry Sly, executive director of the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano. “The financial support food banks receive from the community is a critical part of our work. You can make a difference by giving to the ABC7 Share Your Holiday Food Drive and working together to help our neighbors in need. ”

Tune into ABC7 on December 15 for inspiring stories from people who have supported Bay Area Food Banks and from people who are in need of assistance now. By using the ABC7 - 7 Ways To Give, you can help provide food assistance that will go to families facing hunger this holiday season and throughout the year.

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About Bay Area Food Banks

Bay Area Food Banks is a collaboration of eight local food banks serving northern California counties. Collectively they serve 600,000 adults, seniors and children each month who are in need through more than 1,500 food pantries, children’s programs, shelters, soup kitchens, residential programs, and other emergency food providers.

Contacts

Alameda County Community Food Bank - Michael Altfest (510) 684-8655 maltfest@accfb.org

Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano - Lisa Sherrill (925) 408-7655 lsherrill@foodbankccs.org

Redwood Empire Food Bank (Sonoma County) - Lee Bickley (707) 523-7900, ext 15. lbickley@refb.org

San Francisco and Marin Food Banks - Stacy Newman (415) 282-1900, ext 270 snewman@sffb.org

Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties - Caitlin Kerk (408) 858-9208 ckerk@shfb.org

*Mobile Donation Fine Print: $10.00 donation to Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano also benefiting other Bay Area food banks. Charges will appear on your wireless bill, or be deducted from your prepaid balance. All purchases must be authorized by account holder. Message and Data Rates May Apply. Text STOP to 80077 to STOP. Text HELP to 80077 for HELP. Full Terms: mGive.org/T. Privacy Policy.

Get Your Copy of KFOG Live from the Archives 18!

2011-11-16T17:10:00.000-08:00

KFOG Live from the Archives 18 is on sale now at Bay Area Peet's Coffee & Tea locations and online here. All proceeds benefit the Bay Area Food Banks. Preview all 21 tracks here and then order one, two or ten. The album makes a great gift!

To date, Fogheads have raised over $4,200,000 to help Bay Area Food Banks fight local hunger. By purchasing the album you can help feed families in need in our community.

"I love getting these annual reminders of the incredible generosity of KFOG, Peet's and (most importantly) the Fogheads. I hope people feel good about what they are doing when they buy the Live from the Archives CD, because they get to listen to incredible music while they are helping feed people in need in their community." - Larry Sly, Executive Director, Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano

"Second Harvest Food Bank could not feed 1 in 10 people in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties without the contributions of our community members. KFOG Live from the Archives makes it fun and easy to give what matters to our neighbors in need. By purchasing copies for yourself and friends, you can make sure that no child, senior or parent goes to bed hungry." - Kathy Jackson, Second Harvest Food Bank CEO

Don't wait. Head to Peet's now! Thank you, Fogheads!

Boy Scouts Go Door-to-Door to Collect Food for Bay Area Food Banks on Nov. 19

2011-11-14T16:45:00.000-08:00

Nationwide food drive helps meet crucial need for Thanksgiving

One of the nation’s largest single-day food drives takes place this Saturday, Nov. 19, when Boy Scouts will go door-to-door collecting non-perishable food for local food banks.

Many Scout troops including the Piedmont Council and Oakland Cub Scouts Pack 296 are also hosting online Virtual Food Drives to help raise money for Food Banks to purchase their most-needed food items.

“The need for food in our communities has risen dramatically this year, and we’re bracing for record-breaking demand this holiday season,” said Suzan Bateson, executive director of the Alameda County Community Food Bank. “Food Banks rely on the Scouting for Food drive to provide healthy staples that will go directly to families facing hunger this winter, and year-round.”

Last year the drive brought in more than 400,000 pounds of food. In the Bay Area, the Scouts’ goal is to collect 500,000 pounds of food this year.

“We can take substantial steps toward ending hunger by working together,” said Tim Buchen of the San Francisco Bay Area Council of Boy Scouts of America. “But even with 40,000 Scouts on collection routes, we can’t hit every doorstep. So it’s critical that people help us out by dropping off food at their local site or participating in a Scout troop’s Virtual Food Drive.”

Whole Foods Market, Safeway, Lucky, FoodMaxx, Mi Pueblo Food Center and Berkeley Bowl locations throughout the Bay Area have in-store barrels to accept donations for Bay Area food banks throughout the holiday season.

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Boy Scouts Contact

Tim Buchen
San Francisco Bay Area Council, Boy Scouts of America
(510) 577-9000 x 207 tim.buchen@scouting.org

Food Bank Contacts

Alameda County Community Food Bank
Michael Altfest (510) 684-8655 maltfest@accfb.org

Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano
Lisa Sherrill (925) 408-7655 lsherrill@foodbankccs.org

San Francisco Food Bank
Stacy Newman (415) 282-1900, ext 270 snewman@sffb.org

Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties
Caitlin Kerk (408) 858-9208 ckerk@shfb.org

Note to media: Feel free to list any of the Scouting for Food drop-off sites on Saturday (Nov. 19), listed below, in your coverage area (sites are also listed on www.bayareahunger.org). Site hours differ, but 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. is generally accurate. For coverage purposes, these sites provide great visuals and interviews. All Bay Area Food Banks will be open on Saturday afternoon to receive and sort truck shipments from Scouting for Food collections sites.

ALAMEDA COUNTY (10)

Berkeley
St. Mary Magdalen School
2005 Berryman St.

Castro Valley
Proctor Elementary School
7520 Redwood Road

Fremont
Latter Day Saints Church
3551 Decoto Road

Hayward
Southland Mall
660 West Winton Ave. (Sears Auto Mall parking lot)

Livermore
Lucky Supermarket
2000 Portola Blvd.

Pleasanton
Walmart
4501 Rosewood Drive

Oakland
Alameda County Community Food Bank
7900 Edgewater Drive

Montclair Elementary School
1757 Mountain Blvd., south parking lot

Grocery Outlet
2900 Broadway

San Leandro
Boy Scout Office/Leadership Training Center
1001 Davis St.

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY (11)

Antioch
Antioch Latter Day Saints Church
3013 Rio Grande Drive

Antioch Latter Day Saints Stake Center
2350 Jeffery Way

Brentwood
Brentwood Latter Day Saints Church
1101 McClarren Road

Concord
Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano
4010 Nelson Ave.

Farm Bureau Hall
5554 Clayton Road

Oak Grove Latter Day Saints Church
2930 Treat Blvd.

Danville
Danville Latter Day Saints Stake Center
655 Old Orchard Drive

Discovery Bay
Fire Station #59
1685 Bixler Road

Richmond
Hilltop Latter Day Saints Church
4351 Hilltop Drive

Lafayette
Moraga Latter Day Saints Church
3776 Via Granada

Pleasant Hill
Pleasant Hill Latter Day Saints Church
555 Boyd Road

MARIN COUNTY (1)

Novato
Marin Food Bank
75 Digital Drive

SAN FRANCISCO COUNTY (1)

San Francisco
San Francisco Food Bank
900 Pennsylvania Ave.

SANTA CLARA COUNTY (11)

Campbell
Home Church
1799 Winchester Blvd., Suite 100

Cupertino
West Valley Community Services Center
10104 Vista Drive

Gilroy
St Joseph's Family Center
7950 Church St., Suite A (behind St. Mary's)

Los Altos
Los Altos City Hall
One North San Antonio Road

Milpitas
Milpitas Food Pantry
196 S. Main St.

Mountain View
El Camino Hospital
2500 Grant Road

Palo Alto
Latter Day Saints Church
3865 Middlefield Road

San Jose
Second Harvest Food Bank
750 Curtner Ave.

Sacred Heart
1381 South First St.

The Lord's Pantry
Behind Gloria Dei Lutheran Church on White Road near Alum Rock Ave.

Sunnyvale
Sunnyvale Community Services Center
725 Kifer Road

SAN MATEO COUNTY (5)

El Granada
Coastside Hope
99 Avenue Alhambra

Half Moon Bay

Coastside Hope

214 Harvard Ave.

Pacifica
Pacifica Resource Center

1809 Palmetto Ave.

San Carlos

Second Harvest Food Bank

1051 Bing Street

South San Francisco
Salvation Army South San Francisco Citadel Corps
409 S. Spruce St.

SOLANO COUNTY (3)

Benicia
Benicia City Park
250 E. L St.

Fairfield
Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano
2339 Courage Drive, Suite F

Vallejo
Elks Lodge
2850 Redwood Parkway

Local Motorists Helped Fill Up Bay Area Food Banks by Filling Their Gas Tanks

2011-11-08T16:59:00.000-08:00

Valero’s “Fill Up to Fight Hunger” campaign

raises more than $164,000 for Bay Area food banks

Filling up at a local Valero station did more than just keep the car running, it also helped feed the hungry in our community.

Feeding America member food banks in the Bay Area and Valero, an international manufacturer and marketer of energy products and power, announced today that $164,262 has been raised from the “Fill Up to Fight Hunger” campaign and will be donated to the Bay Area food banks.

Valero launched “Fill Up to Fight Hunger” on April 4 to give motorists a chance to fight hunger in their communities simply by filling up with Valero fuel. For each 8-gallon fuel purchase made at a local participating Valero outlet, Valero donated $1 to local food banks, including Alameda County Community Food Bank, Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano, Marin Food Bank, Redwood Empire Food Bank, San Francisco Food Bank, and Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties.

In all, the campaign resulted in $2.9 million being distributed to more than 125 food banks across the country.

“At a time when every penny counts in the fight against hunger, Valero stepped up and put real dollars to work in our community,” said Larry Sly, the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano’s executive director. “Local motorists helped fill up our food bank as they filled their gas tanks, and we are thankful for their support as we work to feed the one in six people who are faced with hunger in the Bay Area.”

Both company-owned Valero Corner Stores and independently operated Valero-branded locations participated in “Fill Up to Fight Hunger.”

About the Bay Area Food Banks

Bay Area Food Banks is a collaboration of eight local food banks serving 11 northern California counties, which serve more than 600,000 Bay Area residents monthly. Through 1,560 food pantries, children's programs, shelters, soup kitchens, residential programs, and other emergency food providers, Bay Area Food Banks distribute 142 million pounds of food each year. We serve anyone in need with dignity and compassion. To learn more about your local food bank and the work they do or to find out how you can help, visit bayareahunger.org or call us at 800-870-FOOD.

About Feeding America

Feeding America provides low-income individuals and families with the fuel to survive and even thrive. As the nation's leading domestic hunger-relief charity, our network members supply food to more than 37 million Americans each year, including 14 million children and 3 million seniors. Serving the entire United States, more than 200 member food banks support 61,000 agencies that address hunger in all of its forms. For more information on how you can fight hunger in your community and across the country, visit feedingamerica.org

MEDIA CONTACTS

Alameda County Community Food Bank – Michael Altfest

(510) 636-3663, ext. 330. maltfest@accfb.org

Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano – Lisa Sherrill

(925) 408-7655. lsherrill@foodbankccs.org

Redwood Empire Food Bank (Sonoma County) – Lee Bickley

(707) 523-7900, ext 15. lbickley@refb.org

San Francisco Food Bank & Marin Food Bank – Stacy Newman

(415) 282-1900, ext 270. snewman@sffb.org

Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties – Caitlin Kerk

(408) 266-8866, ext 368. ckerk@shfb.org

NBC Bay Area Teams Up With Safeway to Stock Bay Area Food Bank Shelves One-Day Food Drive

2011-11-01T15:19:00.000-07:00

NBC Bay Area, in partnership with Safeway, is hosting a one-day food drive on Saturday, November 19, to benefit hungry people throughout the Bay Area. More than 600,000 Bay Area residents require the assistance of their local Bay Area Food Bank every month. The food drive takes place at 165 Safeway locations throughout the Bay Area, so it is easy for community members to participate and help feed their neighbors in need.

NBC Bay Area and the Bay Area Food Banks will mobilize for one day of food collections at Safeway stores to collect thousands of pounds of much-needed food.

“In addition to providing on-air promotion, we are organizing hundreds of volunteers throughout the Bay Area to encourage shoppers to donate,” said Lance Lew, NBC Bay Area Community Marketing Director. “It is easy to pick up a pre-packed $10 grocery bag that is filled with the foods local families need most. Our goal is to increase awareness about local hunger while also giving community members a convenient way to help out at a critical time.”

Displays at all Safeway stores will be filled with $10 bags that shoppers can purchase and donate to their local food bank. These bags include items such as rice, stuffing, canned vegetables and cranberry sauce. Once collected, the bags will be delivered to food banks before the Thanksgiving holiday.

“We thank NBC Bay Area and Safeway for bringing attention to the severity of local hunger and for creating a simple way for anyone in our community to help a family in need,” said Kathy Jackson, Second Harvest Food Bank CEO. “Bay Area Food Banks are feeding people in every neighborhood and through this drive you can donate to make a difference in the lives of people where you live.”

Additionally, Food Banks across the nation have the chance to earn a financial donation from Kraft Foods. The food banks with the most donated bags per 100 shopper transactions will receive a donation, which can be used to purchase additional food.

If you wish to coordinate a volunteer team (4-8 people) to help collect food at your local Safeway on November 19, please visit www.bayareaproud.com to register. If you cannot participate on November 19, bags will be available for purchase from November 15 through the end of December.

About Bay Area Food Banks:

Bay Area Food Banks is a collaboration of eight local food banks that serve more than 600,000 people in 11 northern California counties each month. Through 1,560 food pantries, children's programs, shelters, soup kitchens, residential programs, and other emergency food providers, Bay Area Food Banks distributes 142 million pounds of food each year. With respect and compassion, the Food Banks serve anyone in need.

MEDIA CONTACTS

Alameda County Community Food Bank – Michael Altfest

(510) 636-3663, ext. 330. maltfest@accfb.org

Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano – Lisa Sherrill

(925) 676-7543, ext. 206. lsherrill@foodbankccs.org

Redwood Empire Food Bank (Sonoma County) – Lee Bickley

(707) 523-7900, ext 15. lbickley@refb.org

San Francisco Food Bank & Marin Food Bank – Stacy Newman

(415) 282-1900, ext 270. snewman@sffb.org

Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties – Caitlin Kerk

(408) 266-8866, ext 368. ckerk@shfb.org

KGO Radio Fights Hunger Day Moves Community to Raise Nearly $200,000 (and counting) to Support Bay Area Food Banks

2011-10-04T12:27:00.000-07:00

With 1 in 4 children and 1 in 5 adults in the Bay Area at risk of hunger, KGO Radio and Bay Area Food Banks joined forces for the first annual KGO Fights Hunger Day Radio-a-thon on September 16, 2011, to raise awareness and much-needed funds to alleviate hunger in the Bay Area.

KGO Newstalk 810 aired special programming about the realities of hunger throughout the day long broadcast, all designed to motivate people to make a donation to support Bay Area Food Banks. KGO listeners responded with heartfelt enthusiasm. To date, nearly 200,000 has been raised to fight hunger in the Bay Area through this inaugural campaign.

For every $1 received, Bay Area Food Banks can distribute an average of $4 worth of food.

Listeners heard from Food Bank clients around the Bay Area, including several families who, despite having two working adults, still struggle to provide healthy food for their children. Under pressure from underemployment and the rising cost of living in the Bay Area, these clients have turned to food banks to ensure that they have enough food for their families until the next paycheck. The stories inspired callers from around the Bay to share their own struggles with hunger.

The message that KGO shared was simple, yet powerful: Hunger can happen to any of us -- and it takes all of us working together to make sure everyone has enough to eat.

KGO’s on-air personalities including Jennifer Jones Lee, Ronn Owens, Gil Gross kept the focus on hunger throughout the day, and KGO reporters Jeffrey Schaub and Rob Artigo aired interviews and poignant profiles of food bank clients from all walks of life. Many of the people who turn to the food banks for assistance are working, yet struggle to get by. After paying for housing, transportation, childcare and health care, there’s not much money left to put toward healthy food.

“There are hundreds of thousands of adults, children and seniors in our community who simply cannot make ends meet and are faced with the realities of hunger,” said Paul Ash, Executive Director of the San Francisco Food Bank. “Many people don’t realize the scope of hunger here in the Bay Area. The awareness generated by KGO and the money that has been donated by KGO listeners will make a tremendous difference in our efforts to fight hunger, and we are deeply grateful for their support.”

Bay Area Food Banks is a collaboration of eight local food banks that serve over 600,000 people in 11 northern California counties each month. Through 1,560 food pantries, children's programs, shelters, soup kitchens, residential programs, and other emergency food providers, Bay Area Food Banks distributes 142 million pounds of food each year. With respect and compassion the Food Banks serve anyone in need.

“I am so proud of what our listeners and staff was able to accomplish in just 14 hours.” Said Jack Swanson KGO Operations Director “this was an eye-opening experience for all of us and we all now know how much these vital services are needed in our community.”

Subway Fights Bay Area Hunger

2011-07-05T16:05:00.000-07:00

This spring, all 450+ Bay Area Subway restaurants participated in Fit to Fight Hunger and the results of their efforts are in! While promoting healthy eating Subway also focused on giving back. Five Bay Area Food Banks received a tasty donation - $30,000 to feed hungry people.

Lance Lew (NBC Bay Area), Rajiv Kohli (Subway Restaurants)
and Tami Cardenas (Second Harvest Food Bank)

Subway's donation comes at a critical time - during the season of childhood hunger. With school out for the summer, 1 in 4 Bay Area children are left without the free or reduced price meals they rely on throughout the academic year. Subway, an expert on healthy lunches, is helping the food banks to provide nutritious food for local children.

Thank you Subway!

KGO Fights Hunger Day – September 16, 2011 – KGO Radio Studios & Bay Area Food Banks

2011-05-25T09:40:00.000-07:00

KGO Newstalk 810 is joining forces with Bay Area Food Banks to fight hunger in 2011. KGO Fights Hunger Day is Friday, September 16 and will consist of a live radio event dedicated to raising awareness and much needed funds for local food banks in all nine Bay Area counties. KGO will conduct a series of live interviews, special reports, and online features to encourage and direct listeners to donate by calling a special phone bank or visiting the website.

KGO General Manager Deidra Lieberman and San Francisco Food Bank

Director Paul Ash announced KGO Fights Hunger Day on May 25^th

Many of the people who turn to the Food Banks for assistance are employed, but still cannot make ends meet. After paying for housing, transportation, childcare, and healthcare, there’s not much money left to put towards healthy food. In fact, 1 in 5 Adults and 1 in 4 Children in the Bay Area are at risk of hunger.

You can make a donation now for the KGO Fights Hunger Drive by finding your Food Bank here. For every $1 received, Food Banks in the Bay Area can distribute an average of $4 worth of food.

Starting on Sunday, September 11th, you can also participate in the Hunger Challenge as part of the KGO Fights Hunger Drive. The Hunger Challenge asks people to eat with just $4 per day, the average food stamp benefit in the Bay Area. Visit HungerChallenge.com to learn more and sign up.

Thanks in advance for your support in helping to feed people in need in our community.

To contact your Food Bank, call 800-870-FOOD (3663). The call is geo-routed so you will speak with a representative at your local food bank. www.kgoradio.com/hunger

Scouting For Food Brings in the Pounds for Bay Area Food Banks

2010-11-24T17:24:00.000-08:00

As the numbers roll in, it's apparent that there was a heavy Scout force out and about in the Bay Area last Saturday! A huge thank you to all the Scouts and their assistants for braving the rain and collecting record amounts of food to feed our hungry neighbors. And thank you to everyone who participated and found the drop-off locations, even if they didn't get a door hanger.

Here are the poundage reports thus far:

Alameda County Community Food Bank:
143,737
Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano:
145,103
San Francisco Food Bank:
10,800
Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties:
117,140

(These numbers may increase slightly as more donations are weighed next week.)

40,000 Scouts Hit Bay Area Doorsteps on Saturday

2010-11-18T14:27:00.000-08:00

One of the nation’s largest food drives fills food bank shelves for the holidays

One of the nation’s largest food drives takes place Saturday morning (Nov. 20), when Boy Scouts hit doorsteps across the Bay Area – and the nation – to collect non-perishable food for local food banks.

In the Bay Area, more than 40,000 Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Venturers, Explorers and their supporters will be “Scouting For Food” by picking up boxed or bagged non-perishable food placed on doorsteps by 9 a.m. on Saturday.

Residential addresses on the Scouts’ collection routes have already received notice by way of a door-hanger promoting the drive. Residents who aren’t on collection routes can still help by bringing donations to Scout drop-off locations between 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. on Saturday. Scout drop-off locations for each county’s food bank are listed at www.bayareahunger.org. Sonoma County scouts will be participating in a separate food drive to take place in the spring.

“The Scouting for Food drive provides all the food banks with food for the critical demand period during Thanksgiving week,” said Suzan Bateson, executive director of the Alameda County Community Food Bank, which expects about 150,000 pounds of food from residents of that county. In the Bay Area, Scouts are targeting 600,000 pounds.

With the Boy Scouts of America celebrating their 100th anniversary in 2010, the nine Bay Area councils are concluding a year-long effort (which launched with the 2009 drive) to collect “one million cans” of food for Bay Area food banks.

“History has shown that as demand for food in the community rises, so does the outpouring from people who want to help,” said Tim Buchen of the San Francisco Bay Area Council of Boy Scouts of America. “We expect Saturday’s drive to be unprecedented. But even with 40,000 scouts on collection routes, we can’t begin to hit every doorstep. So it’s critical that people help us out by dropping off food at their local drop-off site.”

Whole Foods Market and Safeway locations throughout the Bay Area have in-store barrels to accept donations for Bay Area food banks throughout the holiday season.

BOY SCOUTS MEDIA CONTACT
Tim Buchen (BOO-ken), San Francisco Bay Area Council – (510) 577-9207 (office); (510) 853-1534 tbuchen@bsamail.org

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Alameda County Community Food Bank
Brian Higgins (510) 636-4902 bhiggins@accfb.org
Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano
Lisa Sherrill (925) 408-7655 lsherrill@foodbankccs.org
Redwood Empire Food Bank (Sonoma County)
Lee Bickley (707) 523-7900, ext 15 lbickley@refb.org
San Francisco Food Bank
Stacy Newman (415) 282-1900, ext 270 snewman@sffb.org
Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties
Poppy Pembroke (408) 266-8866, ext 279 ppembroke@shfb.org

Note to media: Feel free to list any of the Scouting for Food drop-off sites on Saturday (Nov. 20), listed below, in your coverage area (sites are also listed on www.bayareahunger.org). Site hours differ, but 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. is generally accurate. For coverage purposes, these sites provide great visuals and interviews. All Bay Area Food Banks will be open on Saturday to receive truck shipments from Scouting for Food collections sites.

ALAMEDA COUNTY (11)
Berkeley

St. Mary Magdalen School
2005 Berryman Street

Castro Valley

Proctor Elementary School
7520 Redwood Road

Fremont

Latter Day Saints Church
3551 Decoto Road

Hayward

Southland Mall
660 West Winton Ave.
(Sears Auto Mall parking lot)

Livermore

Lucky Store
2000 Portola Blvd.

Pleasanton

Walmart
4501 Rosewood Drive

Oakland

Alameda County Community Food Bank
7900 Edgewater Drive

Montclair Elementary School
757 Mountain Blvd.
South Parking Lot

Grocery Outlet
2900 Broadway

San Leandro

Boy Scout Office/Leadership Training Center, 1001 Davis St.

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY (11)

Antioch

Antioch LDS Church
3013 Rio Grande Drive, Antioch

Antioch LDS Stake Center
2350 Jeffery Way, Antioch
Brentwood

Brentwood LDS Church
1101 McClarren Road, Brentwood

Concord

Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano
4010 Nelson Avenue

Farm Bureau Hall
5554 Clayton Road

Oak Grove LDS Church
2930 Treat Boulevard

Danville

Danville LDS Stake Center
655 Old Orchard Drive

Richmond

Hilltop LDS Church
4351 Hilltop Drive

Lafayette

Moraga LDS Church
3776 Via Granada

Pleasant Hill
Pleasant Hill LDS Church
555 Boyd Road

St. Mary Magdalen/ School
2005 Berryman Street, Berkeley

SAN FRANCISCO COUNTY (1)

San Francisco
San Francisco Food Bank
900 Pennsylvania Ave.

SANTA CLARA COUNTY (8)

Campbell

Home Church
1799 Winchester Boulevard
Suite 100

Cupertino

West Valley Community Services Center
10104 Vista Drive

Gilroy

St Joseph's Family Center
7950 Church Street, Suite A (behind St.Mary's)

San Jose

Second Harvest Food Bank
750 Curtner Avenue

Sacred Heart
1381 South First St

The Lord's Pantry
Behind Gloria Dei Lutheran Church on White Road near Alum Rock Ave

Milpitas

Milpitas Food Pantry
196 S Main Street

Sunnyvale

Sunnyvale Community Services center
725 Kifer Road

SAN MATEO COUNTY (6)

El Granada

Coastside Hope
99 Avenue Alhambra

Los Altos

One North San Antonio Road

Mountain View
El Camino Hospital
2500 Grant Road

Pacifica

American Legion
555 Buel Avenue

Palo Alto

LDS Church
3865 Middlefield Road

South San Francisco

South SF Citadel Corp / Salvation Army

SOLANO COUNTY (3)

Benicia

Benicia City Park
Second Street

Fairfield

Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano
2339 Courage Drive, Suite F

Vallejo

Elks Lodge
2850 Redwood Parkway

NBC Bay Area Teams Up With Safeway to Stock Bay Area Food Bank Shelves on Nov. 20

2010-11-16T09:48:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, Nov. 20th, NBC Bay Area in partnership with Safeway is hosting a one-day food drive to benefit hungry people throughout the Bay Area. Over 500,000 Bay Area residents require the assistance of their local Bay Area Food Bank every month, and the need is greater than ever.

In light of the bleakest job market since the Great Depression, Bay Area Food Banks are seeing their client bases rapidly expand, absorbing unemployed and underemployed residents to the already staggering number of low-income people who are already struggling to put food on the table.

NBC Bay Area and Bay Area Food Banks have mobilized this one-day food drive at Safeway locations using media to bring the need for food donations to viewers’ attention in their hometown. “We are hoping to raise awareness of the growing need for food assistance in our communities through on-air promotion. With 165 Safeway locations throughout the Bay Area, people are able to donate in their own neighborhood to help their neighbors in need. It is an easy way to receive donations and have a successful drive,” said Lance Lew, NBC Bay Area Community Marketing Director.

Safeway is offering two ways for customers to donate to help feed the hungry during the holiday season: Purchase one or more turkeys, or buy a $10 or $15 bag of groceries. All purchases will be delivered to the local food bank that next week in time for Thanksgiving.

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About Bay Area Food Banks:
Bay Area Food Banks is a collaboration of eight local food banks serving northern California counties. Collectively they distributed 135 million pounds of food to adults, seniors and children in need through over 1,500 food pantries, children’s programs, shelters, soup kitchens, residential programs and other emergency food providers. The 2010 holiday season now upon us will be the highest food demand in many years.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Alameda County Community Food Bank
Brian Higgins (510) 636-4902 bhiggins@accfb.org
Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano
Lisa Sherrill (925) 408-7655 lsherrill@foodbankccs.org
Redwood Empire Food Bank (Sonoma County)
Lee Bickley (707) 523-7900, ext 15 lbickley@refb.org
San Francisco Food Bank
Stacy Newman (415) 282-1900, ext 270 snewman@sffb.org
Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties
Poppy Pembroke (408) 266-8866, ext 279 ppembroke@shfb.org

Letter Carriers Food Drive - Saturday May 8, 2010

2010-04-29T09:30:00.000-07:00

Bay Area carriers set million-pound goal

A year ago, mired in the depths of a depression that was threatening to reduce their ranks, Bay Area postal carriers defied the economy by dramatically reversing course on their annual food drive. Carriers representing 140 post offices in nine counties collected a record 921,000 pounds of non-perishable food for Bay Area Food Banks, halting a three-year downward trend with a 42 percent increase over the 650,000-pound drive in 2008.

With record unemployment weighing heavy on food banks in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Solano and Sonoma counties, regional letter carriers are taking aim at history again with an unprecedented goal: collecting 1 million pounds on the morning of Saturday, May 8 – the date of the 18th Annual National Association of Letter Carriers Stamp Out Hunger Drive.

“Things were so bad for so many people on our routes that we knew we had to circle the wagons,” San Lorenzo postal carrier and Alameda County drive organizer Dennis Stecz said of the 2009 drive, which also set a record (73.4 million pounds) nationally. “We made a concerted effort to leave no can behind. A lot of my customers who donated cans really didn’t have much to spare, but told me they knew there others who were worse off. That motivates us to dig our heels in even deeper in 2010.”

On May 8, some 7,500 Bay Area letter carriers will collect bagged or boxed non-perishable food from postal customers, who need only leave their donations next to their mailbox. The carriers will transport the food back to the post offices, where it will be trucked to the local county food bank. “You don’t have to go any farther than your front door or mailbox to fight hunger,” said Redwood Empire executive director David Goodman, summarizing the logistics. Protein items, including canned fish and meats, are continually in low supply at Bay Area Food Banks.

“I have never seen bad times hurt so many people in my 34 years working here,” said Larry Sly, the executive director of the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano, where a recently published study indicated a 46 percent increase in clients over the last four years. “We desperately need the help the letter carriers provide.”

Similar quadrennial studies at each of the five Bay Area Food Banks in the Feeding America network – conducted as part of a national census on hunger – belie any hints of economic recovery.

The Alameda County Community Food Bank is combating swelling hunger among children and teens, which now comprise 43 percent of its clientele. The Redwood Empire Food Bank study revealed an ever-widening gap between the haves and have-nots in Sonoma County, where the median household income of food bank clients is just $930 a month – less than one-fifth of the county as a whole. The San Francisco Food Bank study showed that 150,000 residents of that city now live at or below 150 percent of the Federal Poverty Line – an indication of chronic food insecurity – and that 84 percent of client families with children had lost a job or had pay or hours reduced during the study’s 2009 survey period. At Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, a program that provides direct distribution to families with dependent children saw enrollment skyrocket 36 percent – to 24,453 families per month – in the last year.

“Summer looms as a scary time for parents whose children participate in school meal programs,” said Alameda County Community Food Bank executive director Suzan Bateson. “The Letter Carriers Drive helps us brace for the surge that begins when that last school bell rings.”

Since its inception in 1983, the largest single-day food drive in the nation has stocked 982.7 million pounds of non-perishable items on food bank shelves from coast to coast, making it a cinch to surpass the 1 billion pound milestone on May 8. One billion pounds of food would feed every resident of California three meals a day for a week.

“The economic downturn has affected so many families – we see it every day on our routes,” said Linda James, a letter carrier who coordinates the drive for her Sonoma County branch. “Being a letter carrier is all about service, but on May 8 we have an opportunity to do so much more for our community.”

MEDIA CONTACTS

Alameda County Community Food Bank
Brian Higgins • (510) 636-4902 bhiggins@accfb.org

Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano
Lisa Sherrill • (925) 408-7655 lsherrill@foodbankccs.org

Redwood Empire (Sonoma County) Food Bank
Lee Bickley • (707) 523-7900 ext. 15 lbickley@refb.org

San Francisco Food Bank
Stacy Newman • (415) 282-1907 ext. 270 snewman@sffb.org

Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties
Lynn Crocker • (408) 386-5748 lcrocker@shfb.org

www.bayareahunger.org

CBS-5 and Whole Foods Market team up for a win with Food For Bay Area Families Drive

2010-01-04T14:17:00.000-08:00

Generous CBS 5 viewers, CBS5.com users, and community sponsors sent a new record this year, giving a total of $637,180 to food banks around the Bay Area for the 7th annual "Food for Bay Area Families" drive. Read the full article on CBS5.com

Whole Foods' Jolyn Bibb, CBS5 weather anchor Roberta Gonzales and San Francisco Food Bank executive director Paul Ash display the bounty reaped by Bay Area Food Banks from the Whole Foods Market 5% Day on December 8 - $112,629.20!!

Scouts kick off 100th year celebration with mass relief effort

2009-11-17T16:07:00.000-08:00

More than 60,000 join forces Saturday to collect for Bay Area Food Banks

NOVEMBER 17, 2009 – Boy Scout and Cub Scout leaders throughout the Bay Area are galvanizing a legion of volunteers over 60,000 strong for what one Scout official called “one of the most critical collections in our history” – Saturday’s Scouting For Food Drive.

A year ago, Scouting For Food amassed 774,000 pounds of food in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, Solano, Santa Clara and San Mateo counties (Sonoma County Scouts hold a similar drive in the spring) – the equivalent of just over 600,000 meals for Bay Area Food Banks. Tim Buchen, who organizes the drive for the San Francisco Bay Area Council (Alameda and San Francisco counties), has spent hundreds of hours rallying his troops to aim higher in 2009.

“Boy Scouts were around during the Great Depression and they pulled their weight,” said Buchen, whose council – one of seven participating in the drive in the Bay Area – collected 167,000 pounds of food a year ago. “I think our Scouts understand that they are serving in extraordinary times, and that their responsibily to their community is extraordinary.”

Bay Area residents that received door hangers announcing the drive this past weekend can simply leave bagged or boxed non-perishable (shelf-stable) food by their doors this Saturday morning (Nov. 21). In most cases, Scouts will collect it by 9 a.m. and transport it to regional sites – as many as a dozen per county – where it will be trucked to the food bank in the county where it was collected.

Bay Area Food Banks will distribute more than 110 million pounds of food in 2009, and the Scouting For Food Drive traditionally vies with the Letter Carriers’ Drive (held in April) for the honor of the largest single-day food drive of the year in the Bay Area. “Every food bank is having to buy more and more of its food to keep pace with off-the-charts demand,” said Suzan Bateson, executive director of the Alameda County Community Food Bank, which pays for 58 percent of its food. “The Scouting For Food Drive represents a huge injection of high-quality food just in time for Thanksgiving; with the USDA reporting all-time highs in childhood hunger, this drive is really about youths helping youths.”

“The sheer volume of this drive is breathtaking,” said Kathy Jackon, executive director of Second Harvest Food Bank of San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties.

For the scouts of the Mount Diablo Silverado Council (Contra Costa and Solano Counties), which collected a Bay Area-high 176,000 pounds in the 2008 drive, collecting food for Bay Area Food Banks represents “the highest ideals of our movement,” said drive organizer Chelsea McClain.

Bay Area residents who miss the Scout collection Saturday morning can deposit their non-perishable groceries at any Safeway, Whole Foods, Lucky or CVS Pharmacy. In addition, each county’s regional collection site can be found on the applicable county’s food bank web site – each of them navigable from www.bayareahunger.org.

“I used to get asked why we do a drive in this part of the Bay Area,” said Marin Council drive organizer Tim Wells. “But I’m not getting many of those kinds of questions this year. Hunger has arrived in Marin. It’s in Napa and it’s in Silicon Valley. Hunger is in unexpected places in 2009.”

MEDIA CONTACTS – FOOD BANKS

Alameda County Community Food Bank • Brian Higgins • (510) 636-4902 • bhiggins@accfb.org

Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano • Lisa Sherrill • (925) 408-7655 • lsherrill@foodbankccs.org

San Francisco Food Bank • Stacy Newman • (415) 282-1900 ext. 270 • snewman@sffoodbank.org

Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties • Lynn Crocker • (408) 694-0044 • lcrocker@shfoodbank.com

MEDIA CONTACTS – SCOUT COUNCILS

Note – All councils are regionalized by county, with the exception of Alameda and Piedmont councils, which conduct business independently in Alameda County, within the borders of the San Francisco Bay Area Council

Alameda (City of Alameda) Council • Robert Johnson (510) 522-2772

Marin Council (Marin County) • Tim Wells (415) 454-1081

Mount Diable Silverado Council (Contra Costa County) • Chelsea McClain (925) 674-6172

Pacific Skyline Council (San Mateo County) • Ron Chang (650) 341-5633

San Francisco Bay Area Council (Alameda, San Francisco counties) • Tim Buchen (510) 577-9207

Alameda (City of Alameda) Council • Robert Johnson (510) 522-2772

Piedmont Council (City of Piedmont) • Jo Hazelett (510) 547-4493

Santa Clara County Council • Gary Varano (408) 280-5088 ext. 34

Give Where You Live

2009-11-09T10:30:00.000-08:00

CBS 5 Reporter Sue Kwon takes the Hunger Challenge to live on $4 a day

2009-09-21T17:20:00.000-07:00

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ― More than 35 million Americans are now receiving food stamps, but can people really afford to live on such a small allowance? It's called the food stamp diet. Politicians have tried it. College kids have given it a shot. Sympathetic Americans wanting to understand what it's like have tried living on a food stamp budget of just $4 a-day. That's the average amount a Californian on food stamps has to spend on a day's meals.

The San Francisco Food Bank's 2009 Hunger Challenge is this week - September 20-26. CBS 5 ConsumerWatch reporter Sue Kwon takes on the challenge and will file reports everyday this week documenting her experiment that we hope will put a spotlight on hunger.

If you're taking on the Hunger Challenge we would like to hear about it. If you are on foodstamps and have budget stretching ideas or want to share your thoughts, please share them with CBS 5.

Letter Carriers Drive reaps unprecedented harvest

2009-05-18T15:59:00.000-07:00

Bay Area Food Banks receive more than 900,000 pounds

Despite his post office’s longstanding status as Alameda County’s top producer in the National Association of Letter Carriers’ Drive, Pleasanton postmaster Gurjant Khosa was taking no chances with the 17th annual version of the drive on May 9.

Battening the hatches against a battered economy, Khosa went to pains to promote the drive through local media and introduced a program in which each of his 65 letter carriers supplied biodegradable bags to their postal customers to fill with non-perishable food. He even convinced a local auto mall to promote the drive by flashing a message to passersby on I-580.

But it wasn’t until a few days after the drive that Khosa fully realized what his efforts had wrought.

“They called me after they transferred everything to the food bank truck and asked me if I wanted to have a look,” Khosa said. “When they opened the door, I couldn’t believe my eyes.”

Spilling out of the tractor-trailer was 25,770 pounds of food – virtually double the amount collected by Khosa’s carriers the year before. In Discovery Bay, postal carriers saw their donations increase by 111 percent over 2008.

So it went throughout the Bay Area, where 8,700 postal carriers from 145 post offices reaped a record haul of 909,812 pounds of food from postal patrons – 40.3 percent more than the 2008 drive.

“I have been around food banking long enough to think I have seen everything,” said Larry Sly, executive director of the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano, “but I am constantly amazed at the incredible generosity our community shows through the Letter Carriers food drive.”

Several thousand pounds likely will be added to the total as the recipients of the bounty – the seven Bay Area Food Banks operating under the Feeding America banner – finalize their totals in the upcoming week.

“The results of this year’s drive are outstanding. Food banks are really feeling the pinch as more and more people seek food assistance,” said Keith Flagler, Interim CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties. “This influx of food drive really helps us meet this need.”

Poundage for the nation’s largest one-day food drive had been trending downward since peaking in 2005. Bay Area Food Banks received 648,626 pounds from letter carriers in 2008. While the 2009 national totals won’t be announced by the carriers’ union until June 1, the May 9 collaboration dramatically reversed course on the drive’s direction in the Bay Area.

"The letter carriers have once again made it easy and possible for our community to give food – this year needed more than ever,” said David Goodman, executive director of Sonoma County’s Redwood Empire Food Bank. “We are grateful for their hard work and dedication to help us feed hungry people.”

Bay Area Food Banks have been swarmed by demand in 2009 as legions of the newly unemployed have swelled the ranks of the hungry.

“One postmaster told us there were bags of food lined up against the walls in apartment complexes and retirement homes, places where donations were virtually non-existent in previous years,” said Alameda County Community Food Bank executive director Suzan Bateson. “The generosity of residents living on fixed incomes – and many other donors – filled us with joy and gratitude.”

Added Paul Ash, executive director of the San Francisco Food Bank: “We appreciate the support of the community for their donations, as well as the dedication from the postal service to carry out this drive every year. As the economy worsens and more people look to Bay Area food banks for assistance, it is wonderful to see our neighbors step up their commitment to our programs.”

MEDIA CONTACTS

Alameda County Community Food Bank
Brian Higgins: (510) 636-4902 bhiggins@accfb.org

Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano
Lisa Sherrill: (925) 676-7543 ext. 206 lsherrill@foodbankccs.org

Redwood Empire (Sonoma County) Food Bank
Lee Bickley (707) 523-7900 ext 15 lbickley@refb.org

San Francisco Food Bank
Renske Van Staveren: (415) 282-1900 ext. 262 rvanstaveren@sffb.org

Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties
Lynn Crocker: (408) 694-0044 lcrocker@shfoodbank.com

www.bayareahunger.org

Press Release: NALC Stamp Out Hunger Drive, Saturday, May 9, 2009

2009-05-05T09:22:00.000-07:00

Bay Area food banks immersed in ‘hunger epidemic’
Seven counties rally around May 9 Letter Carriers Drive

Alameda County Community Food Bank, Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano, Redwood Empire (Sonoma County) Food Bank, San Francisco Food Bank,  Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties. See end of post for Media Contacts.

At Bay Area food banks, foreboding statistics are being amassed by the pallet.

Calls to the food hotline at Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties have skyrocketed by 54 percent since the outset of 2009. A similar line at the Alameda County Food Bank has doubled its business in just two years. In January, USDA distribution sites in eastern Contra Costa County doled out 81 percent more food than the same month a year earlier. Sonoma County’s Redwood Empire Food Bank has seen a 22% surge in demand in 2009. Meanwhile, the San Francisco Food Bank is scrambling to fill the void left by a 75 percent drop in manufacturer’s donations of one of its staple items: cereal.

“The evidence is overwhelming,” said Alameda County Community Food Bank executive director Suzan Bateson. “We’ve crossed the threshold that separates hard times from a hunger epidemic.”

Bateson and her colleagues throughout the Bay Area are pinning their hopes of relief on the biggest one-day food drive in the nation – the 17th Annual National Association of Letter Carriers’ (NALC) Drive on the morning of Saturday, May 9.

“This drive comes at a critical time,” said Keith Flagler, interim CEO for Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, the Bay Area’s largest-volume food bank. “Donations tend to drop off after the holidays, while the food banks see an increase in requests from parents of school-aged children. Couple this with an inundation of economic victims – people who never before needed help from a food bank – and it makes for a very precarious situation.”

In 2008, the NALC drive raised 650,000 pounds of food for the seven Bay Area county food banks that operate under the banner of Feeding America (formerly America’s Second Harvest), the national association of food banks headquartered in Chicago. Despite an abysmal economy - and a three-year trend of shrinking donations to the drive - the 7,500 letter carriers participating in the Bay Area have set their sights on collecting 775,000 pounds on May 9. That would provide approximately 600,000 meals.

“We’re in urgent need of the incredible support we receive from the NALC drive this year more than ever,” said Larry Sly, executive editor of the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano. “We’ve never seen demand on this level.”

The format, which Redwood Empire Food Bank executive director David Goodman describes as “the easiest method ever devised to donate food,” hasn’t changed since the inaugural drive in 1993. Postal patrons simply leave a box or bag of non-perishable food by their home or business mailbox on the morning of May 9. The letter carriers do the rest, transporting the donated food to collection bins at one of 140 Bay Area post offices. From there, the food is trucked to the local county’s food bank, where it is weighed, sorted and distributed to a vast network of food pantries, soup kitchens and community agencies.

“This drive is my favorite workday of the year,” said Linda James, who coordinates the Sonoma County collection effort. “It gives carriers a chance to help our community, our customers – those people in need that we see every day.”

“We’re part of the fiber of the neighborhoods,” said Danny Laffan, president of NALC Branch 193 in San Jose. “On a daily basis, we see and feel the impact these tough economic times have on our customers. More families than ever are being affected. All of our drives are important; this year’s is critical.”

In late January, Postmaster General John E. Potter warned Congress that service cuts may be necessary, telling a Senate subcommittee that the postal service may be forced to cut mail delivery from six to five days a week.

“We’re not just observers to all the economic turmoil; these are hard times for the postal services, as well,” said San Lorenzo letter carrier Dennis Stecz, who organizes the Alameda County collection effort and has participated in every NALC Drive. “All things considered, this is undoubtedly the most important drive we’ve ever conducted.”

“Everybody wins in the Letter Carriers Drive,” added San Francisco drive organizer Kim Troung. “Our customers get a warm feeling from donating food, we letter carriers are proud to make such an impact on our communities and the people that receive this food - many of whom we see every day - are in dire need of it.”

MEDIA CONTACTS

Alameda County Community Food Bank
Brian Higgins: (510) 636-4902 bhiggins@accfb.org

Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano
Lisa Sherrill: (925) 676-7543 ext. 206 lsherrill@foodbankccs.org

Redwood Empire (Sonoma County) Food Bank
Lee Bickley (707) 523-7900 ext 15 lbickley@refb.org

San Francisco Food Bank
Renske Van Staveren: (415) 282-1900 ext. 262 rvanstaveren@sffb.org

Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties
Lynn Crocker: (408) 694-0044 lcrocker@shfoodbank.com

www.bayareahunger.org

Stories from the frontlines: Letter Carriers who serve Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties

2009-05-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

For Letter Carrier Tommy Rivera, participating in the annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive has been a natural progression of the philanthropic spirit that he says he learned from his dad.

“My dad used to work with the St. Vincent de Paul’s society and was in charge of the Thanksgiving food hand out at our local parish,” says Rivera. “During the rest of the year he always ran a pantry where people could come get a full box of food. I am really proud of my dad for the work he did helping people.”

Tommy has been a letter carrier for 18 years. He services the Westgate area of San Jose and has actively taken part in the Letter Carriers’ Drive his entire career.

“People on my route are very supportive of the drive, but I have noticed the last few years the donations were low,” says Rivera. “This year we are really promoting it and talking it up with our customers because the need right now is so high in the community and the food we collect really makes difference.”

Although the drive creates extra work for Rivera and his fellow Letter Carriers’, he says they do not mind.

“We do a barbeque in the back lot and make it into an exciting, fun day. Even though we are working harder we know it is a good thing to do and we give our customers a chance to help out.”

Referring to the extra weight he lugs on the day of the drive, Rivera says “It’s not heavy, it’s for the hungry.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rosie Laauli has worked as a Letter Carriers’ Drive coordinator since she first started servicing her Campbell-based route eight years ago.

“I like to get involved in things that revolve around giving,” she says. “Giving is important.”

Laauli knows that the non-perishable donations she and her fellow letter carriers collect are especially important this year, so they are doing their part to make sure customers on their routes know about the drive.

“Our union had t-shirts printed that we could purchase for $10, “ she says. “Most of us bought them and we will be wearing them the week before the drive to advertise as we go about delivering mail.”

In addition, the USPS printed promotional cards that the letter carriers put in the customer’s mailboxes.

“I want to thank all letter carriers for participating in this drive,” says Laauli. “Without everyone’s help it would not be possible to collect the donations. We all feel it is a privilege and an honor to get to not just do our jobs but to give back to our community.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For 22 years, letter carrier Jas Nijar has spent one Saturday each May picking up donations left for him as part of the national drive to collect food for people in need in our communities.

“I don’t mind the extra work,” he says. “I just want to go out and do something for the community and this makes me feel good.”

Nijar is optimistic about this year’s drive citing the fact that many people on his route are already asking him about it.

“I think people know the need is great in the community so they really want to make sure they participate,” Nijar says. “There are a lot of generous people out there.”

MEDIA CONTACT:
Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties
Lynn Crocker: (408) 694-0044 lcrocker@shfoodbank.com
http://www.secondharvestfood.org

Stories from the frontlines: Letter Carriers who serve Alameda County

2009-05-05T07:59:00.000-07:00

PLEASANTON
Gurjant Khosa has been involved in the letter carriers’ effort since the drive’s inception in 1993 – the first 10 years as a Pleasanton letter carrier.

“I take this drive very personally,” said Khosa, who now serves as the postmaster for the Pleasanton Post Office. “We’ve been very successful at this post office in producing increasingly more food for the Food Bank each year. I’m confident that we’ll increase the intake in Pleasanton this year.”

Much of Khosa’s optimism is linked to Pleasanton’s track record for producing big in the NALC Drive; in 2008, residents contributed 13,000 pounds of food – over 11 percent of the total for Alameda County, which has 19 post offices participating in the drive.

“The people of Pleasanton have been an exceptional partner in the fight against hunger,” Bateson said. “Their actions have spoken volumes over the years.”

It was Pleasanton, in fact, that Bateson identified as the test city for a biodegradable bag program to extract even bigger donations for the May 9 drive. The blue bags, which features comic-page artist Bill Keane’s “Family Circus” characters – Keane annually donates a drawing to promote the drive – will be delivered to 20,000 Pleasanton postal patrons three days before the drive, Khosa said. On the following day, postal patrons will receive a postcard reminder to fill up those bags for the Saturday drive.

Pleasanton is the only community in Alameda County receiving the bags – residents elsewhere must supply their own packaging for their non-perishable donations. The city’s 65 letter carriers do the rest, transporting the donated food to the collections bins at the Village Parkway post office. From there, the food is trucked to Food Bank, where it is weighed, sorted and distributed to a network of 176 food pantries, soup kitchens and community agencies throughout Alameda County.

Food donations for the drive have taken a dip for three consecutive years throughout the county. Not so in Pleasanton, where donations have steadily increased on annual basis.

“People generally think of Pleasanton as an upscale community,” Khosa said, “But this economic crisis has affected people in every community. The people here understand that. I’m confident that they’ll respond in kind on May 9.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PIEDMONT, MONTCLAIR AND OAKLAND HILLS
Audrey Osbey has been involved in the letter carriers’ effort since the drive’s inception in 1993 – first as a letter carrier in San Pablo, then as a member of the postal management team.

“Our station has been one of the most successful collection sites,” said Osbey, the station manager of the 41st Street (Oakland) Post Office that serves Piedmont, Montclair and the Oakland hills. “The people in this community have always been willing to step up and give. I think that giving spirit that will be more evident than ever in this economy.”

In the 2008 Letter Carriers’ drive, the 41st Street location collected 6,196 pounds of food – fourth among the 19 participating post offices throughout Alameda County.

“We need donations this year more than ever,” said Dennis Stecz, a San Lorenzo letter carrier and the longtime Alameda County coordinator for the drive. “Piedmont has proven to be the little city with the big heart – in Montclair’s case, the little community with the big heart.”

The format hasn’t changed since the inaugural drive in 1993. Postal customers simply leave donations of non-perishable foods like rice, beans, peanut butter, pasta and canned vegetables in a bag or box beside their residential or business mailbox. The letter carriers of Piedmont and Montclair do the rest, transporting the donated food to the collections bins at the 41st Street Post Office. From there, the food is trucked to Food Bank, where it is weighed, sorted and distributed to a network of 176 food pantries, soup kitchens and community agencies throughout Alameda County.

Food donations for the drive have taken a dip for three consecutive years throughout the county. Not so in Piedmont and Montclair, where donations have steadily increased on annual basis.

“We generally have a barbecue the morning of the drive,” Osbey said. “This drive serves as a rallying point for the letter carriers. We take a lot of pride in doing our part.”

MEDIA CONTACT:
Alameda County Community Food Bank
Brian Higgins: (510) 636-4902 bhiggins@accfb.org
http://www.accfb.org/

Stories from the frontlines: Letter Carriers who serve Contra Costa and Solano Counties

2009-05-05T07:50:00.000-07:00

Neil's Story
There are thousands of letter carriers who make the Stamp Out Hunger food drive a success by donating their time and energy. One such Carrier, Neil Zarchin, has been involved at the coordinator level of the food drive for about 14 years. Neil says “I can see no reason for anyone to go without food in this world, much less in the wealthy nation. There is no point in looking for blame or responsibility, especially when children are involved. The bottom line is there is enough to go around, its a matter of distribution.”

Neil learned the hard way that even working people live close to the edge, and all it takes is one simple mistake to have children missing a meal or two - unless there is someone willing to lend a hand. “One time, about 15 or so years ago, I was a single parent. I was working at the Post Office, so we were getting by, although there wasn't much to spare,” says Neil. “One day, I forgot to sign my paycheck when I deposited it at the ATM. The clerk who opened the machine the next day found the error and mailed the check back to me. Unfortunately, I had just moved, so it was going to take a week for it to work its way through the system. In the meantime, I had no money.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jeovani's Story
Jeovani R. Abenoja is the Lafayette Post Office's Safety Captain and Customer Connect NALC coordinator and even though he tired to come up with any excuse not to get even more involved, he decided to take over this years Food Drive to see what difference he could make.

“I love to help people, and face challenges that I know I can personally help make a difference in,” says Jeovani. “The United States doesn't discriminate when it comes to hunger. Even some families that lived in upper scale neighborhoods, drove Mercedes Benz's, and even donated thousands of dollars a year to charities, have been seen at their local food bank seeking assistance during this economical crisis. That in itself was and should be enough to motivate anyone to take charge and do their fair share.” That's why he decided to be this years Lafayette Post Office Food Drive Coordinator.”

Jeovani asks, "are you doing your fair share?”

MEDIA CONTACT:
Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano
Lisa Sherrill: (925) 676-7543 ext. 206 lsherrill@foodbankccs.org
http://www.foodbankccs.org/

Stories from the frontlines: Letter Carriers who serve Sonoma County

2009-05-05T07:45:00.000-07:00

"It's Hernia Day!" joked Jerry Andersen, president of NALC Branch 183. "Every year I'm impressed by the full boxes and bags of food that we pick up! I've been on the same route for 28 years and I'll always remember an elderly lady that would buy cases of water and cans of food throughout the year, just so she could donate to the Letter Carriers' Food Drive. She made it a priority in her budget because she cared so much!"

"Its so great to see all of our Postal employees coming together for this cause", said carrier Ken Paradise. "Our Postmaster and her family spent 3-4 hours last year on Food Drive day, working out on our dock, sorting and loading food for the Food Bank. Everyone cares about our customers, especially since the need is so much greater this year!"

MEDIA CONTACT:
Redwood Empire (Sonoma County) Food Bank
Lee Bickley (707) 523-7900 ext 15 lbickley@refb.org
http://www.refb.org

How the Bay Area Food Banks fight hunger

2009-05-04T17:14:00.000-07:00

Bay Area Food Banks acquire millions of pounds of food for distribution by collecting donated food through community food drives, by trucking in donated surplus groceries and fresh produce from manufacturers, wholesalers and produce growers, and by purchasing selected food items that are needed for food assistance programs in the community. We depend on thousands of volunteers to help us sort, pack and deliver food.

Though most of our food is donated, we are able to obtain purchased food at low cost so that every dollar donated goes even further. In addition, each food bank serves targeted geographic areas, which prevents duplication of food distribution efforts and makes us highly efficient in providing nutritious food to adults, seniors and children who are in need.

Food banks are successful at reducing hunger because of tremendous local support. We depend on donors who generously give money and food, volunteers who sort and pack food in our warehouses and distribute bags of groceries, and advocates willing to speak to public officials and the media about solutions to hunger. Your help is needed more than ever as thousands of people in our community are living on the margins, barely holding on.

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