by Karin K. Jensen on News Break
According to Cindy Houts, Executive Director of the Alameda Food Bank (AFB), hunger was already a growing problem in our relatively prosperous community before the pandemic hit. Once Covid-19 arrived, the need multiplied.
AFB reports that they are serving ten times the number of people they helped last year. Most never needed services before. They are Islanders from all income levels who have been furloughed or permanently laid off.
Clients include teachers, small business owners, dental assistants, real estate agents, bartenders, and wait staff. In short, these are our neighbors. Here’s how you can help:
Alameda Food Bank
Alameda Food Bank is currently serving 1800 families a week. They need volunteers for packing, sorting, client check-in, food distribution, and more. They are seeking people who can make an on-going weekly commitment who are 18 and older.
Before the pandemic, AFB used volunteers once or twice weekly. Now, they need volunteers four days per week.
In the past, retirees were the primary helpers. With seniors at greater risk from Covid, their numbers have dwindled in the ranks. However, with so many now unemployed, working from home, or limited in what they can do outside of work, there are more volunteers of all ages.
Alamedan Page Tomblin and her son Theo volunteer on Wednesdays. She enjoys feeling like part of a well-oiled machine. “Teale Harden, the volunteer coordinator, is super organized. I don’t have to wonder what I’m supposed to be doing or how to do it.”
“Sometimes there are insanely long lines. People of all ages and races show up. One of the hardest things is to see families with babies and toddlers. I don’t want to see anyone hungry, but especially not little ones.”
“Still, I appreciate how the Alameda community has stepped up to help neighbors and friends. I’m happy to be part of it.”
Alameda Food Bank reports that 84% of their funding comes from individuals. For every $1 donated, they can buy $7 worth of food.
Many employers will match donations. Be sure to search for “Alameda Emergency Food,” their official name, in your employer’s database, not Alameda Food Bank.
Donating a used vehicle is a great way to save the time and hassle of selling your car, whether it’s running or not. Complete an online form, and you receive the necessary DMV forms and donation receipt. Your vehicle is picked up promptly at no cost.
You can also donate stocks and securities to avoid paying taxes on capital gains.
Alameda Backyard Growers
Drive around Alameda these days, and you’ll see trees loaded with oranges, lemons, and limes. At other times of the year, there are plums, apples, and even stone fruit.
An established tree can produce 100+ pounds of fruit, far more than one family can consume. There is no need to let excess go to waste! Anyone can easily donate what they don’t need without leaving home. Alameda Backyard Growers is one of a few organizations allowed to donate fresh produce to the Food Bank. Currently, individuals cannot donate produce.
You can pick the fruit yourself and contact ABG for pick-up. For instance, recent high winds knocked a load of limes off my tree. It was easy enough to bag the fallen fruit, set it on my porch, and email ABG. [NOTE: ABG prefers people pick fruit off the tree. Fallen fruit can carry bacteria.] They picked it up on the same day and even sent a note thanking me for the donation of 14 pounds of fruit.
Alternately, contact ABG to harvest the fruit for you. I have done this, too. One spring, a team of volunteers arrived at my home with pole harvesting tools and made quick work of bagging my excess plums.
No fruit to donate? You can help by volunteering to harvest fruit from other people’s trees.
Feed Alameda
Feed Alameda is the city’s newest campaign to help our community’s most vulnerable segments while also supporting local restaurants impacted by the pandemic.
The program started on January 20, 2021. It will ultimately pay 31 local restaurants to provide 90 meals per week to Alameda’s homeless individuals, women and children at Midway Shelter, residents of the FEMA trailers, and those who use the Alameda Point safe overnight parking areas.
City funding is underwriting the first 11 weeks of meals, and a GoFundMe campaign is allowing the community to extend this program through mid-August.
Mayor Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft says, “COVID-19 has been especially hard on our most vulnerable community members and restaurants. We modeled this program on the National Restaurant Association’s ‘Let Restaurants Do the Cooking’ campaign.”
The City pays each participating restaurant $25 per meal for 90 meals (chain restaurants are excluded). Meals are hot, nutritious, and low in sodium, with a main course, fruit, and vegetables.
Teri Kennedy is on the steering committee for Alameda’s Dine and Connect program. (Dine and Connect is a faith-based community program that provides weekly hot meals and connection to health, housing, and social service resources.) She was one of the first to volunteer when the Feed Alameda program began. “Volunteering has been enjoyable. I recognize many of the “regulars” from our Dine and Connect meals. I have gotten to know many of their names and a bit about some of them. They have all been enthusiastic about the quality of the food.”
To volunteer for meal distribution, sign up here.
Islanders Helping Islanders
No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another. — Charles Dickens
Cindy Houts says, “As we settle in the “new normal,” we’re proud that the Alameda Food Bank is operating at full capacity and meeting our community’s increasing need for sustenance. Never has our motto of ‘Islanders Helping Islanders’ been more apt.” Whether you donate your extra lemons and limes, volunteer to distribute a Feed Alameda meal, or contribute to the food bank, know that you are providing hope and making a difference in the lives of fellow Islanders. References Alameda Backyard Growers Project Pick Alameda Food Bank Dine and Connect Feed Alameda