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.
Mobile Pantry Program
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.
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.
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
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
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.