It's one of the very few things that break our cold, cynical, dead heart: kids going hungry in SF. And while summer vacation is the golden months of the year for must young kids, for many it means going without lunch, which is the most nourishment many of them see in day. Even though in our income-rich city, there are 150,000 people who go hungry every day. Ouch.
Luckily, there's the SF Food Bank, which provides fresh produce, bread, meat, etc, to low-income people. If you have some spare time or money, it's a great place to volunteer or donate. We interviewed Paul Ash, the executive director of the SF Food Bank.
Oh, and another way to help? You can stuff yourself bulimia-style with gastronomic morsels prepared by super chefs Tracy DesJardins (Jardiniere) and Elizabeth Falkner (Orson, Citizen Cake) at the Wine.Dine.Donate dinner organized this Wednesday 6:15pm at ACME Chop House by Epicurious.com to benefit the Second Harvest, which is the network of Food Banks. And if you'll firgive the Sally Struthers moment, for just $125 you can help your local food bank, while getting a superb dinner out of it. What a deal!
Our chat with SF Food Bank director Paul Ash after the jump. (At left, Ash pictured with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
It's like a triple whammy: energy costs which makes running the operations more expensive, a drought which reduces the supply of produces, an economic crisis which increases the demand on the Food Bank services. How do you keep upbeat when things go wrong on all sides?
Paul Ash: There are a lot of challenges to face right now, but because our donors believe in us and what we do, we've been able to increase the food we distribute even in these difficult times. This year we distributed 3.5 million more pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables than last year. So the motivation for me comes from watching children and their families attending our Healthy Children's Pantries and selecting from among sometimes 8 - 10 different types of fresh produce. Knowing families can prepare good food in their own home is pretty inspiring.
It's that old trope about SF confusing summer and winter for you guys too: if the little match girl was in SF, she'd be hungry now, not over Christmas. How can that be?
Paul Ash: One thing people often lose sight of - unless your rely on it - is the school meal program. San Francisco's low income children rely on free or reduced price breakfast and lunch throughout the school year. But in summer there's no school so children can only rely on the less prevalent summer lunch program. In many of our public schools more than 60% of the children qualify for the program.
There are 150,000 people at risk of hunger in SF. In the city proper, out of, like 800,000? What is meant by "at risk of hunger?"
Paul Ash: Being at risk of hunger means having an income so low that it is highly likely you or your family will be unable to purchase enough healthy food for adequate meals. These 150,000 people live at or near the federal poverty line, which is a meager $17,600 for a family of three. We believe that any family earning up to 150% of the poverty income is almost certain to need food assistance. Since the number is not indexed for cost of living, those living in expensive cities like SF have a particularly tough time.
How can people help the food bank?
Paul Ash: We could not have successfully distribute 31.5 million pounds of food this year without our volunteer corps. They sort and package much of the food we distribute. It also takes money. To keep the trucks fueled, forklifts running and to pay our hardworking staff. We also need people to become food bank advocates (check our website: sffoodbank.org) and use their voices to tell policy makers that we need better government feeding programs with less red tape.
