TURKEYS ONCE AGAIN “FLY” TO GOOD HOMES

For yet another year, and perhaps a year when needed most, the communities gathered in the Bayview, OMI, and at the City College Parking lot to distribute more than 5,600 turkeys and bags of groceries to seniors and families across their communities.   The events in the OMI, Bayview, and Park Merced on December 8 were organized by the CLC Food Networks, lead by Deb Glen and Chester Williams, with great support for turkeys and fixing from Glide.   The CLC  teams have been meeting weekly throughout the pandemic without missing a beat to bring healthy food and staples to over 230 households with older adults and adults with disabilities.  The Feeding 5000 event at the City College parking lot was organized by the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) in partnership with the San Francisco African American Faith-Based Coalition and other local community-based organizations hosted a holiday giveaway event called “Feeding 5000” on December 11 via a drive-through service at City College of San Francisco with strict COVID-19 safety procedures in place.  

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, one in four San Francisco residents were at risk of hunger due to income shortage. With an increased number of residents out of work, the number of people struggling to afford enough nutritious food is also increasing and the City’s nonprofit partners have reported a surge in demand for food. In this effort, SFDPH is joined by the African American Faith Based Coalition, SF New Deal, and Together SF to bring these greatly needed services to the community.    The San Francisco African American Faith-Based Coalition is a health and wellness collaborative of  over 21 churches in San Francisco. The Coalition is committed to advocating for the needs of the underserved African American community city-wide. Collectively, the members of the Coalition represent over 6,000 African American residents.  The Coalition was launched in November of 2016, to address high priority health needs identified in the 2016 San Francisco Community Health Needs Assessment.   The SF African American Faith-Based Coalition leveraged partnerships with a variety of food providers (Arcadio’s, Dixson Catering, Earl’s Organics, Glide Memorial, Pacific Agri-Products Inc., SF New Deal, TogetherSF, and SF Marin-Food Bank) to obtain high quality, meals and groceries.

This collaborative effort includes: African American Arts and Cultural Center, A. Philip Randolph, B-Magic, Bayview Rotary, Bayview Senior Services, Bayview YMCA, Community Awareness Resources Entity, Community Living Campaign, Delta Sigma Theta, Department of Aging and Adult Services, Dream Keeper Initiative, Five-Point, Hirsch Philanthropy Partners, HOPESF, Imani Breast Cancer Group, Inner City Youth, Mother Browns, Office of Education and Workforce Development, Rafiki Coalition, Recology, Regional Pacific Islander, Related Management Company, Requity/Peace Parks, Salesforce, Samoan Community Development Center, The San Francisco Chapter of The Links Inc, San Francisco City College, San Francisco Rec & Park, San Francisco City College Police Department, San Francisco Fire Department, San Francisco Human Rights Commission, San Francisco Police Department, San Francisco Unified School District, Southwest Community Corp, Sojourner Truth Foster Family Services, Stand in Peace International, Taskforce, 3rd Street Youth Center, UCSF, Uniti Resources, and USF.