How to help during COVID-19
During the coronavirus crisis and ensuing economic devastation, Bay Area volunteer organizations, crisis centers and food banks have been stretched so far that they are in urgent need of donations and volunteers. Here’s just a sampling of ways you can help.
Alameda Food Bank: Seeking healthy volunteers, ages 1864, to help pack and sorting food. signupgenius.com/ go/904084ba4a92aa7fd0-food1
Berkeley Mutual Aid: Looking for neighborhood volunteers and donations to help get food, supplies and prescriptions to where they are most needed. berkeleymutualaid.org/offeringassistance
Contra Costa Health Services:
Food delivery volunteers are needed in Concord and El Sobrante; email Shannon.Ladner-Beasley@ cchealth.org
East Bay FeedER: Providing restaurant meals to front-line health care workers. Donations are needed to purchase the meals from independently owned restaurants and have them delivered to local hospitals. donate.wck.org/ campaign/east-bay-feeder/ c279709
Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano: Needs donations and volunteers as it helps county residents in need; foodbankccs.org.
Frontline Foods: This organization, which supports restaurants, frontline workers and impacted populations, needs volunteers and monetary donations. frontlinefoods.org/ volunteer/
La Cocina Emergency Relief
Fund: This San Francisco nonprofit entrepreneurial organization, which helps women, immigrants and people of color open culinary businesses across the East Bay, uses its relief fund to provide emergency financial assistance for personal, family, living and business expenses to La Cocina participants; lacocinasf.org/
Loaves and Fishes: This organization, which serves 650 boxed to-go meals per day in Martinez, Oakley, Antioch and Pittsburg, urgently needs help funding and delivering 400 16.9-ounce water bottles per week during the COVID-19 crisis. loavesfishescc.org/index.html
Martha’s Kitchen: This San Jose-based soup kitchen, which is feeding nearly 1,000 extra meals per day during the pandemic, needs monetary donations. marthaskitchen.org/
Meals of Gratitude: Providing meals to front-line workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Donations go toward labor and ingredients. mealsofgratitude.org/
Meals on Wheels: Help during the pandemic by donating or volunteering to SOS Meals On Wheels, which delivers nutritious, balanced meals to homebound seniors in Alameda County. Meals on Wheels Alameda: feedingseniors.org/. SOS Meals on Wheels: sosmow.org
Monument Crisis Center:
This group, which distributes emergency food supplies to anyone in need, needs monetary and nonperishable food donations. monumentcrisiscenter.org
Oakland at Risk: This group, which assists residents at highrisk for COVID-19, is looking for healthy adult volunteers under 60 to pair with someone with high risk factors to deliver essential supplies and create a check-in schedule by phone or other electronic method. oaklandatrisk.com/
Oakland Food Service Workers COVID-19 Relief Fund: Looking for donations to help hourly foodservice workers, including bussers, hosts, dishwashers, line cooks and servers. oaklandworkersreli.wixsite. com/oswrf
Project Open Hand: This nonprofit organization serves free meals and delivers groceries to the elderly in Oakland. They are looking for volunteers to chop vegetables in the kitchen, deliver groceries
and stack food in the warehouse. openhand.org/volunteer/volunteeroakland
Second Harvest of Silicon
Valley: Needs volunteers to box and distribute food to the community. Monetary donations are also appreciated. shfb.org/ health-and-safety/
Silicon Valley Community Foundation: Providing housing/ shelter, food, clothing and financial assistance for individuals and families in need. siliconvalleycf.org/ coronavirus-fund
Silicon Valley Strong: Seeking volunteers to ensure food security for seniors and medically vulnerable in Silicon Valley. Donations are also appreciated. siliconvalleystrong.org/
Town Fridge: This is a mutual aid community food pantry, established in special refrigerators across Oakland and San Francisco and soon, San Jose. Donate food — perishable and nonperishable — at fridge locations across Oakland; linktr.ee/townfridge, instagram. com/townfridge/
TurnOut: This Oakland-based mutual volunteer network, which helps LGBTQ and individuals who need financial help because of the coronavirus crisis, needs volunteers and monetary donations. turnout. org/covid-19-resources
Valley Medical Center Foundation: This foundation is the official collection point for monetary donations and supplies to support front-line health care workers in Santa Clara County. vmcfoundation.org/campaigns/ covid19/