Category: Newsletter

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The Pantry Shelf – Newsletter November 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.

Check out what’s on the shelves in November 2024.

Top Shelf - Our Programs​

Our families are top shelf! After moving to our new location at 20960 Corsair Blvd, we’ve been growing and defeating hunger in more and more households in the unincorporated areas in and surrounding San Lorenzo, CA.

In-Store Program

Since January 2024, we’ve supported 1458 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 859 a 167% increase.

Chart of food assistant from January 2024 to Oct 2024.

Mobile Pantry Program

We will be out at the San Lorenzo Emanuelu Samoan Free Methodist Church on December 7th. Partnering with them we distribute nutritious produce to approximately 100 clients each Saturday we are there. 

Update on Our Farmer's Market Truck

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

Honk, honk and thank you to those that donated so far to our truck build and supporting our expansion of our Mobile Pantry Program.  So far, we’ve received $7,450 from individual donors.

While our donor matching has ended, your continued financial support is important as we work to get the Farmer’s Market Truck built. Make your donations here.

Middle Shelf - Partners & Volunteers

Food Recovery Partners

In January 2024, SB 1383 expanded the “reduce waste” requirement to restaurants, schools, and hospitals with the expectation they donate excess food to distribution centers.  In October we welcomed our newest Food Recovery Partner Fusian Delight restaurant, located in the Greenhouse Shopping Center on Lewelling in San Leandro, CA. This is our first donor restaurant and supports our efforts to provide cultural foods to our diverse client community.

Volunteer Spotlight - GLIFY

This month we focus our light on our youth volunteers from Global Leadership Initiatives for Youth (GLIFY). GLIFY is a student-driven non profit organization based in the San Francisco East Bay Area and currently has 470+ members (middle schoolers and high schoolers) around the East Bay with over 40+ projects including food banks, crayon sorting, and other enrichment classes.

Photo of the GLIFY volunteers November 2024.

GLIFY has supported the San Lorenzo Family Help Center since 2020. The first event was the Thanksgiving special event in 2020. GLIFY was referred to The Pantry by Charles Beyer from Alameda County Community Food Bank. Since then they  volunteer regularly, helping those in need and learning leadership skills along the way. The group’s Saturday participation at The Pantry, is co-lead by Joshua Wu and Leann Chen.

Visit the GLIFY website to learn more about this amazing youth leadership group.

Stocking Our Shelves

Turkey Donations for Thanksgiving

 

We received 131 turkeys this year from Penumbra Inc of Alameda, CA. This is the 3rd year they have donated.

The warmth people feel when receiving a turkey warms the heart and fills stomachs this season.

A volunteer hands a client a turkey.

Giving Tuesday & San Lorenzo Family Help Center

As we approach the holiday season, the San Lorenzo Family Help Center is preparing to support our community with food on their tables. One way to ensure we can continue to meet the needs of our community is through your donations for Giving Tuesday. 

While the formal Giving Tuesday day is December 3rd, we hope you consider donating throughout the year and help us defeat hunger in Alameda County. Check out and share our Giving Tuesday donation page.

Donating Proceeds & Food to The Pantry

There are many ways to support the work we do at the San Lorenzo Family Help Center (SLFHC). November is a time where many people feel the gift of giving time and or donating food. When donating food please think about the condition of the packaging and the dating on the items donated and only donate foods that you would eat yourself.

Local Organizations Run Food Drives for The Pantry

We recently received food donations from:

  • The San Lorenzo Little League held a food drive in support of The Pantry.
  • The Girl Scouts troop 2612 and the Boy Scouts troop 612 recently made food donations, something they’ve been doing since at least 2020.

Calvary Lutheran Church Donates Proceeds to The Pantry

Gratitude and gratefulness goes to the Calvary Lutheran Church for donating all the proceeds from their upcoming Community Concert on November 30th, at 7 PM to The Pantry. If you are interested in attending in person, the address is 17200 Vía Magdalena, San Lorenzo, CA.

Please Donate Today and Defeat Hunger in Alameda County

We need your help to defeat hunger in the unincorporated area in and around San Lorenzo in Alameda County, CA. We cannot do it without you.

The San Lorenzo Family Help Center is a non-profit 501(c)(3). When you make your donation, we will provide the Tax ID.

We are rolling out new donor levels – Pantry Style. 

  • Platter Donors – $5,000 +
  • Dinner Plate Donors – $2,000 to $4,999
  • Salad Plate Donors – $1,000 to $1,999
  • Dessert Plate Donors – $500 – $999
  • Hors d’oeuvres Plate Donors – $100 – $499

The Pantry Shelf – Newsletter October 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.

Check out what’s on the shelves in October.

Top Shelf - Our Programs

Our families are top shelf! After moving to our new location at 20960 Corsair Blvd, we’ve been growing and defeating hunger in more and more households in the unincorporated areas in and surrounding San Lorenzo, CA.

In-Store Program

Since January 2024, we’ve supported 1165 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 723 a 124.5% in growth.

Chart showing the number of family receiving food assistance by month from 322 in January to 723 in August 2024.

Mobile Pantry Program

Logo of the San Lorenzo Emanuelu Samoan Free Methodist Church.

What is a mobile pantry? We drive our van full of fresh produce and dry goods to locations where people need nutritious food the most in the underserved locations within the Ashland, Cherryland, Hayward Acres and San Lorenzo communities.

So far this year we’ve driven our mobile pantry to the San Lorenzo Emanuelu Samoan Free Methodist Church partnering with them to distribute nutritious produce to approximately 100 clients on five Saturdays.

We are looking for mobile pantry partners and locations

If you are interested in a partnership and hosting us and our mobile pantry program, please email at slzfoodbank@gmail.com.

We are expanding our Mobile Pantry Program and need dough

It has been a dream of ours to have a farmer’s market truck specifically designed to support our mobile pantry work. The truck design includes features like display shelving which helps reduce the lifting of hundreds of pounds of produce by our volunteers, built-in refrigeration enabling the storage of temperature sensitive foods, as well as awnings that provide coverings to our clients.

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

We are excited to share that we’ve received a $205,000 Alameda County Unincorporated Area Community Development Block Grant. This grant is foundational to the expansion of our mobile food pantry program and the purchase of a new farmer’s market truck.

We have a $30,000 match that ends Oct 31st. Give today! The match may end, but the need for food for families will go on.

But the grant is not enough to build the farmer’s market truck and get it on the streets in the community. We are still needing $60,000 to complete the purchase.

Click here to DOUBLE donation

Middle Shelf - Partners & Volunteers

Food Recovery Partners

In October 2024, we added our 15th food recovery partner. Our partnerships with grocery stores, food distributors, and farmer’s markets provide us with a estimated 35,000 pounds per month of culturally diverse foods.

This year, we are on track to reach half a million pounds. Working together we are defeating hunger in Alameda County. 

Welcome to our new food recovery partner Sprouts in Hayward, CA.

Volunteers

Our good work is powered by our amazing volunteers, who do so much in the pantry and outside of it. 

Food-Related Roles

  • Receiving and sorting donations
  • Organizing and putting food on shelves or tables for distribution
  • Engage families in food selection

Non-Food Roles

  • Client check in and appointments
  • Photographer
  • Fundraising
  • Volunteer coordinator

If you would like to volunteer, please email:   slzfoodbank@gmail.com

Volunteer Spotlight

Photo of Janet Linh.

Our Volunteer Spotlight shines on Janet Linh, a volunteer for the past 2 years. Read what Janet has to say in her own words.

I’ve been a volunteer at San Lorenzo Family Help Center for almost two years. This rewarding experience has brought me great pride and enjoyment. I get to meet many new people and have made several friends. But most importantly, I get to serve and give back to the community and to do my part to take care of it the way it took care of me and my family when we first immigrated from Vietnam.

I will always remember the kindness and generosity shown to us by our local church and community, who made us feel welcomed and helped get us settled in with furnishings for our house and clothes and food for my whole family. I was just a young child then but I still remember how grateful I felt that total strangers cared about our well-being!

I’m inspired to continue my volunteer work and to motivate others to give back so we can make our world a better, kinder place for everyone. I especially want to instill in my young daughter the sense of volunteerism and the joy and gratification it brings.

Bottom Shelf

Photo of the front of the walk-in refrigerator at the San Lorenzo Family Help Center.

Brrr…it’s cold inside our new walk-in refrigerator. Thanks to the recent $30,000 grant from Alameda County Source & Recycling Board through Stopwaste.org, we were able to purchase a large walk-in refrigerator. With additional funding for the installation,  the walk-in is now chilling produce and foods in our warehouse. Thank you to Pelco Sales and Services, and Cold Storage Manufacturing for the installation and Moonlight Electric for connecting the electricity.

Stocking Our Shelves

We are only able to defeat hunger with your help. A $100 donation feeds 4 families for a week Donate Now!  Your donations, automatically subscribes you to our newsletter.

There are many ways to support the work we do at the San Lorenzo Family Help Center (SLFHC). In addition to one-time or monthly donations please consider:

  • Hosting a fundraiser on our behalf – create an event and invite friends and neighbors, then donate the funds to SLFHC.
  • Use your company giving platform and matching program – check out to see if your company has giving program.
  • Leave a legacy and add us to your estate plan – When you include the San Lorenzo Family Help Center in your estate plan, your generosity ensures an impact well into the future.

Rolling Out Our New Donor Levels

We need your help to defeat hunger in the unincorporated area in and around San Lorenzo in Alameda County, CA. We cannot do it without you.

We are rolling out new donor levels – Pantry Style. Donate today, grab a plate, and help stock our shelves.

  • Platter Donors – $5,000 +
  • Dinner Plate Donors – $2,000 to $4,999
  • Salad Plate Donors – $1,000 to $1,999
  • Dessert Plate Donors – $500 – $999
  • Hors d’oeuvres Plate Donors – $100 – $499

The San Lorenzo Family Help Center is a non-profit 501(c)(3). When you make your donation, we will provide the Tax ID.

Contact information

Janelle Morimoto, Executive Director

Email: slzfoodbank@gmail.com