Delivering city’s neediest hope for Thanksgiving
Glide van, volunteers feed body and soul in pandemic
Thanksgiving brought a changed mission for Glide Memorial Church’s outreach van.
On Thursday, the van roamed its usual territory, but with a very different cargo. Medical supplies were swapped out for green, reusable bags filled with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, veggies and some fancy juices.
“You guys honestly just made our day coming in with a bagful of food,” said Sergio Andrade Gonzalez, 34, who took a bag to eat in his RV near Candlestick Point.
“This morning my girl was crying because we were trying to figure out where we’re going to find some food,” Andrade Gonzalez said, his voice cracking. “And you guys came out of nowhere. That’s a huge help.”
For San Francisco’s homeless, a pandemic Thanksgiving meant outdoor dining, togo meals and tables for one. And it was also the first time Glide’s signature white van with the orange heart was dispatched to deliver meals to the unsheltered people fanned throughout the city, many of whom said they had no idea where the next meal would come from until the workers arrived.
“We’re going to keep going until we run out of food,” Glide case manager Felanie Castro said as she unloaded bags near Candlestick. “Every day we change up where we go. We go anywhere folks are living outdoors.”
By 1 p.m., Castro and his passenger, outreach worker Ivy Rose, had emptied the approximately 200 meals in the van. Back at Glide’s brickandmortar location in the Tenderloin, volunteers planned to hand out about 2,000 more.
Castro said more people seem to be sheltered this year, and are taking precautions to be socially distant. It’s important that the meals reach them as well.
“Who’s hungry?” she yelled out at each stop. “Are you hungry?” “Did you get one?” “How many do you need?”
“The last thing we want people to do is flood downtown and make it more congested,” she told The Chronicle.
Glide, a social justice outreach center that focuses on homelessness, was holding its traditional Thanksgiving meal near its church in the Tenderloin, but with the necessary COVID twists. Rather than the usual indoor meal service, outreach workers on Thursday blocked Ellis Street near Glide to traffic, making way for standup tents and about 70 mini dining tables, spaced 6 feet apart.
Only members of the same household were permitted to sit at the same table, and most sat alone.
One was Gordon Latz, a New York City native who’s lived in a singleroom occupancy residential hotel around the corner from Glide for more than 10 years. Latz, dressed in a brown houndstooth blazer over green plaid, said he dressed up for the occasion.
“Around the holiday I like to look a little bit better,” he said, adding that he receives meals from Glide regularly.
“They always have really nice people, serving wonderful food and making the holidays a little bit more friendly and better,” he said. “I wish everybody a happy Thanksgiving.”
Latz, who was finishing up his coffee and juice under the tent Thursday morning, said he planned to spend the rest of the day calling family, watching football and eating more food.
“Around the city, they have so many meals you have to pace yourself a little bit,” he said with a laugh.
Lillian Mark, deputy director of programs at Glide, said that while there were togo meals available on Thursday, the dinein option was important to maintain as well. Even from 6 feet away, the social ties offer a sort of comfort.
“Some of the people who eat at Glide absolutely depend on us for their daily nutrition,” Mark said. “And then there are some folks who ... if they didn’t come, they’d be able to manage that meal for the day, but they really come for the friendship.”
In normal times, Glide’s indoor dining hall would
“Unfortunately, that’s what we’ve been missing during this pandemic. We’re not able to gather and be together like we usually do.”
Lillian Mark, deputy director of programs at Glide serve as a community gathering center. Even those who spoke different languages would sit together, say hello, and enjoy the human interaction during their meals, Mark recalled.
“Unfortunately, that’s what we’ve been missing during this pandemic,” she said. “We’re not able to gather and be together like we usually do.”
Such was the case for Tiffany Dunson, who lives in a trailer near Candlestick Point. Dunson looked down as she took a drag of her cigarette and recalled how her children were taken away from her this year because she was homeless.
“I’m not allowed to spend Thanksgiving with them, because of COVID,” she said. Dunson added that she didn’t know where she would have had food if Glide hadn’t arrived.
When the Glide van pulled up, Andrade Gonzalez was busy working on his project: A drugfree enclave on a patch with lawn chairs, Astroturf for the dogs and cleared of trash.
This Thanksgiving was also different for him and his partner, Andrade Gonzalez said. She didn’t have her family and he didn’t have his.
“It’s kind of lonely,” he said just after accepting the food. “But things like that kind of make the day better for us.”