June 2010: SF Food Bank

This month, we focus on San Francisco Food Bank.  Food is essential; it helps the mind and body function.  Food deprivation affects our mind.  Without food, individuals find it difficult to concentrate and focus on tasks.  Hunger increases fatigue and slows down the mind.  For the young, the brain is still developing; essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients are required for healthy brain development.

Kei Hoshino Quigley, Communications and Marketing Manager, San Francisco Food Bank provides Understand My Mind an exclusive interview on how San Francisco Food Bank helps the local community.

San Francisco Food Bank, thank you for your amazing work in the community!  If you want to learn more, donate or volunteer, go to http://www.sffoodbank.org/

The Food Bank is the Hub of Food Assistance in San Francisco and Marin.We provide healthy food to alleviate hunger through a network of 200+ neighborhood pantries and by partnering with hundreds of community organizations.

Pantries are located in high-need neighborhoods throughout the city: at senior centers, public schools, supportive housing sites for the formerly homeless, public housing projects, churches, community centers, and day care programs. Teams of volunteers unload the food, set up the farmers-market display, and provide an orderly and dignified environment for distribution. Many pantry volunteers are also recipients, giving the event a strong feeling of community.

Additionally, over 350 nonprofit agencies come down to the Food Bank on a weekly basis to select fresh produce and packaged food, bread, and dairy or meat items for their clients. This range of choice allows agencies to meet the varied nutritional needs and cultural preferences of the people they serve. Partner agencies range in size from the city’s largest prepared meal programs – such as Project Open Hand – to  smaller programs hosted by community centers, religious organizations, senior programs, HIV/AIDS support programs, drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs, and childcare centers.

The impact of our work is borne out through the words of those who participate in our programs, like Ginny, who is a Food Bank pantry client and the mother of a teenage boy:

I grew up in San Francisco and before, you used to be able to get so much more for your money. And now it’s extremely hard to get by.

First things first, I pay my rent. And I pay the PG&E. And I pay the phone. Sometimes I’ll not pay one bill to pay for another. And then don’t pay for that bill to pay another bill just to keep everything caught up. To not get cut off. But it seems like I’m never out of the hole.

Then my son will be saying, “Ma, you got anything to eat?” And sad to say, a lot of times it’s like, “Mom, there’s nothing to eat.” That’s the worst thing, when your child is hungry and he can’t just get something to eat when he wants it. A lot of times, I eat less and sometimes don’t even eat so he can have something.

If we didn’t have the food bank, it would be a lot worse for my son. He’s a growing kid, he’s always hungry! And I’m always like, look, you gotta save something for another day. At our food bank here, we get vegetables and rice and a couple of things of juice. I appreciate it all, but you have to make it last. What I’ll do with certain kinds of vegetables we get – like onions, celery and bell pepper – is wash it off, soak it, cut it all up and freeze it. That way, it can stretch.

Then there’s Food Stamps. What happens with that is, they’ll deny me and then they give it to the child. It’s $200. I appreciate it, but once I asked them, how did you come up with $200? And the lady told me, “it’s not for you. It’s not for you, it’s for him. Six dollars and change every day for a month.”

My son comes first. I want him to go to college, most definitely. I don’t want my son to be another statistic. But to do that, he needs to grow up and learn to be a man. Children have to make mistakes to learn from them. So I give him a little leeway and he has his curfew and his cell phone so I can keep track of what he’s doing. I know a lot of people would say he really doesn’t need that phone. Well, I feel that he does. Because that keeps me sane – to know where he is, to know that he can check in with me.

Still, a lot of times, we get into arguments. And that is so ridiculous. To be yelling at your child because he ate. Because there’s no bread. To yell at your child because he drank all the milk. And that’s how you start your day. Your child gets up and says, “mom, what is there to eat?” “Well, THERE’S NOTHING TO EAT BECAUSE YOU ATE EVERYTHING!” It’s just ridiculous to be arguing with your child in the morning, on the way to school, because he don’t have nothing to eat. I mean, he feels like, “Hey. You had me. You should be able to feed me.” And you feel less than a mom.

I know it’s clear to him that I’m trying. But he’s just frustrated. How can he sit in school all day hungry? He wants to study business. He used to want to be an attorney. I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to pay for even one credit. I mean, look. I’ve been working since I was 12. Started out with a paper route, did a youth program and then I worked in the delis and the restaurants, but then I got injured. People don’t come onto this earth thinking they’re going to be poor. I’m just glad at least some people have love and compassion.