Boy Scouts Go Door-to-Door to Collect Food for Bay Area Food Banks on Nov. 16

Nationwide food drive helps meet crucial need for Thanksgiving

One of the nation’s largest single-day food drives takes place Saturday, Nov. 16, when Boy Scouts will go door-to-door collecting nonperishable food items for local food banks.

In the Bay Area, more than 30,000 Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Venturers, Explorers and their supporters will be “Scouting for Food” by picking up boxed or bagged nonperishable food items placed on doorsteps by 9 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 16.

The San Francisco Bay Area Council, which encompasses the City of San Francisco and the County of Alameda, collected 148,000 pounds of food last year. The Council’s goal is to collect 160,000 pounds of food this year. Other Boy Scout Councils of the Greater Bay Area will also be participating in the drive resulting in approximately 500,000 pounds of food being collected.

Residences on the Scouts’ collection routes will receive a door-hanger promoting the drive this Saturday, Nov. 9. Residents who do not receive a door-hanger are not on a collection route, but they can still contribute by dropping off donations on Nov. 16 between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. at locations listed below or at www.bayareahunger.org.

Scout troops are also hosting online Virtual Food Drives to help raise money for food banks to purchase their most-needed food items. 

Community Need Greater Than Ever

“The need in our communities is as great as ever. With cuts in SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, we expect to see new families turning to food banks for help,” said Paul Ash, executive director of the San Francisco and Marin Food Banks. “Food banks rely on the Scouting for Food drive to provide healthy staples and much welcomed variety that will go directly to families during the holidays.”

Tim Buchen of the San Francisco Bay Area Council of Boy Scouts of America says working together as a community is one step Bay Area residents can take toward ending hunger.

“There’s always a great need to feed the hungry and we feel that food donation to the community can help accomplish that,” Buchen says. “One of the key components of the Boy Scouts is to a good turn, and the Scouting for Food drive is truly an opportunity for kids to help others.”

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

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 and Marin Food Banks
Blain Johnson (415) 282-1900, ext 270 bjohnson@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. 16), 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

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
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

Novato
Marin Food Bank
75 Digital Drive

San Rafael

Boy Scouts of America

225 West End Avenue

SAN FRANCISCO COUNTY
San Francisco
San Francisco Food Bank
900 Pennsylvania Ave.

SANTA CLARA COUNTY

Los Altos

Los Altos City Hall

One North San Antonio Road

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.

SAN MATEO COUNTY

San Carlos

Second Harvest Food Bank

1051 Bing Street

Half Moon Bay

Coastside Hope

214 Harvard Ave.

Pacifica

Pacifica Resource Center

1809 Palmetto Ave.

South San Francisco

SSF Citadel Corps Community Center/Salvation Army

409 S. Spruce St.

SOLANO COUNTY
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

NBC Bay Area Teams Up with Safeway for Annual Food Drive on Saturday, November 23

Kicking off a month-long local effort to fight hunger, NBC Bay Area is once again partnering with Safeway Stores for a one-day food drive on Saturday, November 23 to benefit Bay Area Food Banks, a collaboration of six food banks serving over 725,000 local residents each month. The “Every Bag Counts” food drive will take place at 156 Safeway locations throughout the Bay Area making it easy for community members to participate and help feed their neighbors in need.    

“Our goal is to create awareness about hunger in the Bay Area and provide our viewers an easy way to help out,” said Rich Cerussi, NBC Bay Area President and General Manager. “Last year we more than doubled our goal and collected over 50,000 bags in one day, we can’t wait to see what our volunteers and donors accomplish this year. We thank the community for all of their support to make this drive so successful.”

“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.”

For the last four years, NBC Bay Area has partnered with Safeway to help stock the shelves of local food banks. In addition to providing on air promotion, the station will be enlisting hundreds of volunteers – including NBC Bay Area anchors and reporters helping at their own neighborhood Safeway Stores – on Saturday, November 23 to encourage shoppers to donate food items. Individuals interested in volunteering to collect food at a local Safeway on November 23, can visit www.bayareaproud.com or contact their local food bank to register.

To make the donation process easier, a specially produced shopping bag filled with items that food banks need the most will be available for $10 at all local Safeway stores. These bags include pasta and sauce, canned vegetables and important protein items like peanut butter and canned tuna. Once collected, the bags will be delivered to food banks. The bags will be available for purchase from November 6 through December 25.

“Safeway is proud to be partnering with our area food banks on this community-wide collection effort,” said Karl Schroeder, President of Safeway Northern California.  “Assisting people who need a helping hand during the holidays and throughout the year is an important part of Safeway’s giving programs.” 

Last year, the food drive collected more than 100,000 bags of food at Bay Area locations, more than doubling the previous year’s collection.

ABOUT NBC BAY AREA

Owned by NBC Universal, NBC Bay Area/KNTV is the Bay Area’s investigative station located in the heart of Silicon Valley.  The station is committed to providing continuous, in-depth news and journalism with unique personalities. Along with carrying NBC’s award-winning daytime, prime-time and late night programming, NBC Bay Area produces more than 32 hours of news programming each week, including several, weekly news franchises: The Interview with Raj Mathai, Class Action with Jessica Aguirre, and Reality Check with Sam Brock. COZI TV, the station’s digital network, offers a full schedule of America’s most beloved and iconic television series, hit movies and original programming. COZI TV can be seen locally on Comcast 186, Verizon 460, and over-the-air on 11.3.

About Safeway

Safeway Inc. is a Fortune 100 company and one of the largest food and drug retailers in North America, based on sales. The company operates 1,415 stores in the United States and had annual sales of $44.2 billion in 2012.  The company's common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SWY.

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.

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MEDIA CONTACTS

NBC Bay Area – Liza Catalan

(408) 432-4302 liza.catalan@nbcuni.com

Safeway- Wendy Gutshall

(925) 467-3523 wendy.gutshall@safeway.com

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. 115. lbickley@refb.org

San Francisco Food Bank & Marin Food Bank – Blain Johnson

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

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

(408) 858-9208 ckerk@shfb.org

Postal Carriers Enlist Public Support to Stamp Out Hunger

Largest single-day food drive to support families at risk of hunger to take place across the Bay Area and the nation on Saturday, May 11

On Saturday, May 11, people from across the country will partner with their letter carriers to help “Stamp Out Hunger.” Now in its 21^st year, the Stamp Out Hunger food drive is the largest single-day effort to combat hunger in America and the largest single-day food drive for food banks in the Bay Area.

To participate, residents are asked to place a sturdy bag of non-perishable food items like peanut butter, pasta, rice, low-sugar cereal, and canned foods such as tuna, meat, stew, soup, and vegetables, by their mailbox before their mail is delivered on Saturday, May 11. Letter carriers will collect the food items and deliver them to their local food bank to then be distributed to the community to help those at risk of hunger.

“As Letter Carriers, we’re out on the streets every day, meeting our neighbors, and have even become a part of many families in the communities we serve,” said Anthony Lowe, Alameda County’s NALC Food Drive coordinator. “But we also see who’s struggling – and unfortunately those numbers are growing. This drive means a lot to the letter carriers, personally, to be able to make a difference in our neighbors’ lives during this time. We thank the community for all of their support to make this drive so successful.”  

Last year, the Bay Area Stamp Out Hunger food drive collected more than 835,000 pounds of food for those in need. In 2012, drive organizers across the country collected more than 70 million pounds of total food donations for the ninth consecutive year.

Despite the generosity of millions of Americans who have supported the letter carriers' food drive in previous years, the need for food assistance still exists for many families. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s annual study measuring food security in the United States, more than 50 million Americans, including nearly 17 million children, are struggling with hunger.

“Bay Area food banks serve over 600,000 people each month, and need typically spikes during the summer when low-income families who rely on free- and reduced-priced school meals struggle to bridge the gap during school break,” said Suzan Bateson, executive director of Alameda County Community Food Bank. “Thanks to the generous support of the community during the Stamp Out Hunger food drive, we are able to better ensure our neighbors have the food and support they need during this difficult time.”

Learn More About the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive: http://www.helpstampouthunger.com/

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.

For comment or to visit your local Food Bank on May 11, please contact the appropriate food bank representative below.

Bay Area Food Banks - Media Contacts

Alameda County Community Food Bank

Michael Altfest - maltfest@accfb.org

(510) 684-8655

Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano

Lisa Sherrill - lsherrill@foodbankccs.org

(925) 408-7655

Redwood Empire Food Bank (Sonoma County)

Lee Bickley - lbickley@refb.org

(707) 523-7900, ext. 115

San Francisco Food Bank

Blain Johnson - bjohnson@sffb.org

(512) 487-2583

Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties

Caitlin Kerk - ckerk@shfb.org

(408) 858-9208