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The Food Bank is honored to be included in this new youth-made mural outside Lifelong William Jenkins Health Center!

Richmond’s Lifelong William Jenkins Health Center is one of our nonprofit partners and a recent recipient of a Food Bank agency enhancement grant. Read this heartfelt letter from Alma, their pantry manager, to learn about the impact you make when you support the Food Bank: 

Thank you so much for the enhancement grant for our agency, Lifelong William Jenkins Health Center. We are truly grateful for the support your staff has provided to us before and during the pandemic. The families in our community are truly thankful and appreciative of all the food provided on a weekly basis. Many of our families in the community of Richmond/San Pablo had lost their jobs during this pandemic and food insecurity became more of an issue. Your staff, organization, and donors gave us a sense of hope in this pandemic. If it wasn’t for you all, we would not have been able to serve families the way we did and have. 

In honor and tribute to all the staff from the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano, our high school student interns and I have added your organization to our city mural in Richmond (displayed in our clinic parking lot 150 Harbour Way, Richmond, CA 94801). We have been working on it for the past 1.5 years from designing to executing it. This is our way to say thank you for being a great asset in our community and for caring. 

Amy, Theresa, Petrus, Octavia, Erin, Paco, James, and many others have been very helpful with resources for our families and agencies. The exceptional execution of weekly food distributions for all agencies is always fair and accessible. We also value the training that your staff has provided for the agencies. It allows us all to work together to address and mutually provide aid for families in dire need.

Sincerely,
Alma Andrade
Pantry Manager
Lifelong William Jenkins Health Center

Above: Anna is grateful for the food she receives from our partner agency, Shower of Blessings.

For 45 years our partner agencies have been fighting hunger alongside us with a common goal of nourishing our neighbors in need.

In early March, with COVID-19 spreading and businesses closing, we quickly realized the Food Bank would be called upon to meet a new and growing need. Our objective was safely scaling our operation in the face of many unpredictable and changing circumstances.

As first responders in this crisis, we needed all hands on deck. Leveraging our existing network of 240 nonprofit partners to distribute additional emergency food boxes and produce quickly became a top priority. Shower of Blessings in Antioch is one of those partners who stepped up during this very chaotic time. Their pantry has doubled the number of people they are serving. They now serve 100-200 families during the three days a week they are open.

Kindness and gratitude radiate from everyone at the agency and even a mask can’t hide Pastor Sylva’s smile as he shares how Shower of Blessings has been able help. “It is wonderful that we are here and the Food Bank is here to serve the community.” Sylva points out, “Sometimes we come across people who don’t appear to need help, when really they are living in their car.”

“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. We don’t look down until we can pick you up. This can happen to anyone.” -Pastor Sylva

When asked how they are meeting the increased need, Pastor Sylva credits dedicated volunteers–many who came from the line–and the partnership with the Food Bank. Every week volunteers from the organization pick up food at an agency distribution which includes produce and emergency food boxes. Other volunteers safely conduct prearranged grocery recovery pickups from retailers like Costco, Target and Safeway, saving the perfectly edible food from being discarded.

The group thoughtfully assembles food boxes with a variety of produce and meat, so families can make complete meals from the offerings. As a volunteer named Beverly tells us, “There is always enough food for everyone.” Paula, another volunteer, adds she recently was told, “This is a blessing for me today because we didn’t have any food and now I can feed my family.”

As we navigate this new COVID-19 world, we will continue to foster these critical partnerships to serve the most at-risk communities including families experiencing hunger for the first time.

From our supporter, Karl Gross:

“We live in a wonderful and blessed neighborhood. Many of our neighbors, like us have vegetable gardens that provide us with good food, physical work, and much joy. My neighbor mentioned to me that they bring their excess fruits and veggies to the Food Bank. I really liked that idea, but was challenged by the time to do this and whether what we brought would be enough to be helpful. Then an idea….. Together with my son Daniel, we built a Fruit and Veggie Stand that is in front of our house. 

It is for everyone in the neighborhood to not only take but also to give their own extra fruits and veggies. We all benefit.  What is put in the stand is free for all. However, there is a donation box in the stand for the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano. A note explains where the donations go, or how to donate online. My personal commitment has been to match whatever is put in the donation box when we pass the donations on to you.

It has been a wonderful experience, bringing our neighborhood together, preventing any waste from our gardens, providing for others…. I am always amazed by what neighbors bring to the stand and how it is always gone by the next day.

I believe this has been a very beneficial effort and would like to find ways to encourage other neighborhoods and communities to do similar activities.”