When Farid Hakimi arrived in the United States in 1986 he was just 16 years old, fleeing the Afghanistan-Soviet Union conflict. Farid attended Concord High School and worked evenings at a local restaurant to make ends meet, but struggled to pay rent and buy food.
Having faced these challenges, Farid is dedicated to giving back to his community. Through the Support Life Foundation, he provides food to Concord families – many of them recent Afghan refugees – who need help making ends meet.
“I know families that don’t have food on the table,” he shares. “That’s how I started.”
The Support Life Foundation is one of 245 nonprofit partners distributing food in partnership with the Food Bank. From soup kitchens to transitional housing services, neighborhood pantries, childcare centers, and more, these partners help your support reach every corner of our community. This includes neighbors we might not otherwise reach, like the families served by Support Life, which organizes food distributions at local mosques and Islamic community centers.
Currently, about 200 households pick up groceries from Support Life’s Concord distribution every week.
According to Farid, many of the neighbors they serve are not comfortable asking for help during tough times. He considers it his job to make sure his community knows that everyone deserves food, and no one is a burden for using the resources available
Now more than ever, the work of partners like Support Life is critical. As part of the $200-billion cut to CalFresh/SNAP included in last summer’s H.R. 1 budget bill, many Afghan refugees and other humanitarian immigrants will be cut off from CalFresh/SNAP after April 1, 2026.
An estimated 72,000 Californians will lose access to CalFresh/SNAP because of this change – and more cuts are still to come.
SNAP is our nation’s most effective anti-hunger program, providing neighbors with funds they can spend at the grocery store to put food on their tables. When it is cut, our neighbors must stretch their budgets even further to cover essentials – at a time prices are once again on the rise.
With your continued support, the Food Bank and our partners like the Support Life Foundation can prepare to fill these hunger gaps for as long as our neighbors need us.
“I never enjoyed my life until I started doing this,” Farid shares. “I have seen the hard times, so now it makes me feel good to help out. Whatever they need, I want to help.”
This post was updated April 27, 2026 to add additional details about the Support Life Foundation.