The Pantry Shelf – Newsletter December 2024

The Pantry Shelf is the San Lorenzo Family Help Center newsletter, connecting and creating a community of people on a mission to defeat hunger in Alameda County. Donate today to automatically subscribe to our newsletter.

In this December 2024 edition, we celebrate some of the great accomplishments this year.

Top Shelf - Our Programs

In-Store Program

January through December 2024, we’ve supported 1,604 unique families through our store-like shopping pantry at Corsair.

The chart at the right shows the number of families per month who have received assistance, 322 to 877 is a 172% increase in the year 2024.

Chart of all the unique families served in 2024.

Mobile Pantry Program

Photo of Free Masons who helped out at the mobile pantry in Dec 2024

In November 2024, we served 89 individuals/families through our mobile pantry program and in December 2024 we served 149 individuals/families.

Shout out to the Free Mason group (see photo to the left with our Executive Director, Janelle Morimoto in the orange SF Giants hat) who volunteered at one of our December mobile pantry sites.

Our mobile program is taking a break in January and February, resuming when the farms and fields become full with fruits and vegetables in early spring.

Update on Our Farmer's Market Truck

We will be bringing you the next Farmer’s Truck update, after the holidays. 

Photo of a truck with a side door open exposing produce.

Middle Shelf - Partners & Volunteers

Food Recovery Program & Volunteers

Image of a truck full of produce.

Through our Food Recovery Program in 2024 we brought in 373,078 pounds of foods

In 2024, our 14 volunteers averaged 16 sites per week, picking up foods and goods. This tremendous effort is made possible through partnerships with our 21 food recovery partner, coordination of our executive director, and our volunteer drivers. 

This month we want to acknowledge and shine a light on our volunteer drivers who go out week after week and pick up from the sites. They work behind the scenes and make our food distribution possible.

Bike Donation from Kids Bike Lane

For several years, Kids Bike Lane has been partnering with SLFHC to provide new bicycles and helmets to children at Christmas time. This year, the Pantry received a donation of 34 bikes and helmets which were distributed on December 14th to children of families we assist. 

Several volunteers helped to distribute the bikes to families. For those smaller children we gave new toys, donated from local families. A huge thank you to our bicycle mechanic volunteer, Glenn Morimoto, who serviced all the bicycles, pumping tires, checked brakes and adjusted seat heights making the bike the perfect fit for each recipient.

Photo at the right is a mom and her two children who received bikes and helmets in December 2024.

Photo of mom and two children with bikes form the pantry.

Stocking Our Shelves​

Giving Tuesday Donations

We raised $1000 on Giving Tuesday. We appreciate your donations during the global focused time.

Donating Proceeds & Food to The Pantry

Photo of a group of women signing during a community concert.

Donated Proceeds – Calvary Lutheran Church Community Concert

On November 30th, the Calvary Lutheran Church of San Lorenzo held a community concert benefiting the San Lorenzo Family Help Center. Pastor Matt Behren and team did an amazing job organizing the concert, bringing together eight different corral and music groups who performed Christmas-themed music to a warm and respective crowd. Our own Tony Contreras, a SLFHC volunteer, performed with his band Karamba and got people grooving to the Brazilian beats.

Together raised $2,368 and those donating $50 or more, received a fleece as a thank you gift.

Food Drives Benefiting The Pantry

Several local schools and youth organizations hosted food drives for us in the month of December. We are so appreciative of the youth focused on supporting our efforts to defeat hunger in Alameda County. It takes a village to feed the village.

Photo of a group of students who supported a SLFHC food drive.
Bohannon Middle School Students
Photo of a group of students who supported a SLFHC food drive.
Grant Elementary School

Three elementary schools and one middle school in San Lorenzo Unified School District collected food and donated the items to benefit the families in their community. Teachers at these schools are leading the way to share with their students about how important it is that everyone gets food to eat. Shout out to the schools below who ran food drives for us:

  • Bohannon Middle School
  • Grant Elementary School, collected and proudly donated over 1,000 items of food 
  • Bay Elementary School
  • Del Ray Elementary School 

Youth Groups

  • The San Lorenzo Little League collected over 300 pounds of food in November after hosting a local food drive to benefit SLFHC and the San Lorenzo community.
  • Scouts Troops 612 & 2612 donated over 600 pounds of food from their area-wide food drive.

Preschools

  • Lea’s preschool, located at the Calvary Lutheran Church property in San Lorenzo has an ongoing food drive to benefit families served by the SLFHC food pantry.
  • Loving Hearts Preschool in San Lorenzo took the job a step further and provided can openers along with the canned food to make sure all recipients of our pantry could enjoy the food provided.

Grants & Funding

Eden Health District logo

An awarded $25,000 grant from Eden Health District will help us increase services and access to food assistance for families in San Leandro and the unincorporated Eden area, starting in January 2025.

The City of San Leandro, Community Food Services Program awarded us a $16,000 grant to support food insecurity and promote equitable access to nutritious meals for residents in our community.

City of San Leandro logo

Around the Corner

Annual Meeting to be held January 26, 2024

Our Annual Meeting will be held on Sunday January 26 at 3:00 PM at the San Lorenzo  Library, located at 395 Paseo Grande, San Lorenzo, CA.