Food banks see calls, donations soaring in state amid job losses
A line of 500 to 600 people standing 6 feet apart snaked around a parking lot and several city blocks in downtown Los Angeles. Many were hotel and restaurant workers, Dodger Stadium employees and airline chefs.
All had lost their jobs or were working reduced hours amid the coronavirus pandemic.
One by one, they walked down a row of gloved volunteers who packed bags with spaghetti sauce, canned meat, kidney beans, frozen whole chickens, sliced ham, milk, fresh apples, dry milk, bread and more. It was the second day of a pop-up distribution that served 1,600 people.
Across the state, the need for food assistance is growing amid the coronavirus pandemic as businesses shut down, hundreds of thousands of Californians lose wages, and seniors and the ill are isolated at home. It’s yet another indicator of the harsh toll the pandemic will take on the state’s working class.
During normal times, food banks across the state serve about 2 million Californians each year.
The volume of calls to Alameda County’s emergency food bank hotline increased fivefold, from 40 calls last Monday to 200 on Wednesday.
Half were people who never had used the food bank before, said Michael Altfest, director of community engagement and marketing.
With unprecedented donations coming in, nonprofits are coming up with creative solutions to meet the demand, including distributing food in parking lots and teaming with the National Guard to pack and deliver food for those who can’t leave their homes.
Bay Area food banks are in conversations with DoorDash, Lyft and other companies that could deliver food directly to people’s doors. Second Harvest of Silicon Valley may partner with the nonprofit Catholic Charities to deliver bags to homebound people.
There has “absolutely” been a spike in demand over the past week at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, said Chief Development Officer Roger Castle. He expects the surge to continue, perhaps worsen.
“The demand is probably from hourly employees not earning as much or being laid off completely, families that have children that rely on school lunches … and seniors that may not be able to get out to stores to get the food they need,” Castle said.
At a drive-thru style food distribution at Our Lady of Refuge in San Jose, volunteers estimated they served 50% more households than usual, said Leslie Bacho, CEO of Second Harvest. Most are working families, she said. The first car arrived an hour and a half in advance to secure a spot in line.
“We thought when the COVID(-19) crisis first hit, maybe we’d see fewer clients showing up at our sites,” Bacho said. “We have not seen that at all. We’ve seen an increase.”
Newsom last week put California’s National Guard force of 22,000 on alert to help communities address the spread of the virus, including distribution of food.
After the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, the National Guard partnered with the Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Cruz. U.S. Rep. Jimmy Panetta said he has met with four National Guard personnel at that food bank to assess needs.
“Unlike other major disasters, this is a disease that does not draw people out, it drives them back home,” Panetta said. “These food banks rely on volunteers; they rely on people to get the food to the most vulnerable who are out there.”
But food banks are facing precipitous drops in volunteers. “The National Guard could fill that void,” Panetta said.
California’s food banks are sending a clear message: We are open and we will stay open. Food banks are an “essential business,” not subject to closure under shelter-in-place orders.
“We are a grocery store for low-income people and so we have to stay open,” said Lisa Sherrill, communications director for the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano.
For now, bolstered by donations, including $250,000 from the Los Angeles Chargers, the Los Angeles food bank is more than prepared, with its warehouses stocked with more than 11 million pounds of food,
Castle said. The Silicon Valley food bank has received more than $6 million in donations, primarily from a group of wealthy tech moguls spearheaded by Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg.
While many food bank distribution sites have closed, others are popping up. In San Francisco and Marin County, more than 90 distribution sites have closed, but the food bank that serves both counties has set up six new sites at schools. At Oakland Unified schools, families can pick up 15-pound bags from the food bank alongside drivethru free and reduced meal services. Other food banks said they would launch similar distributions soon.
On Thursday, President
Donald Trump signed into law a coronavirus relief bill that includes $400 million for food banks, $500 million toward grocery money assistance for pregnant women and mothers with young children who lose work, and $250 million to provide home-delivered and prepackaged meals to low-income seniors. In California, Newsom has extended the eligibility period by 90 days for safety-net benefits, like food stamps, Medi-Cal, welfare and in-home supportive services.
Arlene Krauss is scared. The 75-year-old has an autoimmune disease that causes muscle weakness. “If I got that virus, I would be dead,” Krauss said.
The cafeteria at her affordable senior home in Redwood City has canceled daily hot meals. So has a nearby senior day center. She’s not one to ask for friends’ help, a sentiment common among seniors. After running dangerously low on groceries, she braved a trip to the store, but it felt like “playing Russian roulette.”
“I want to shelter in place, but it’s very different for the people in my situation who don’t have a car and don’t have people who can help them,” she said.
Many people, like Krauss, aren’t aware of food banks.
There are home-delivery programs, but they can’t meet the need. Just under 220,000 seniors receive federally funded meals at group settings or home delivery programs like Meals on Wheels. One option for seniors is to set up grocery deliveries with vendors like Safeway or Amazon, said Kim McCoy Wade, director of California’s Department of Aging. She emphasized that the best option is to enlist a friend or neighbor to help, perhaps “someone you might not have asked a week ago.”
“We are in a different world, and we all need to be reaching out to offer help and to ask for help,” McCoy Wade said.