Discussion for all things Bay Area.
I got an emergency text from the AC food bank (which they have literally never done before in my 10 or so years of donating) stating that they were dipping unsustainably into their funding reserves just to feed all the federal employees that aren’t getting paid. That was a few weeks ago, before SNAP ended. The situation now must be even more dire.
Yesterday, the Democrats put forward a bill to fund SNAP and the republicans blocked it. Monsters.
Money works best, because it adds to their purchasing power.
If you need food, the above websites will also help you find distribution sites, dates and times.
Also, see if there's a Little Free Pantry in your area for canned food, sometimes fresh food, donations and needs: https://mapping.littlefreepantry.org/
What should I donate to help the most? Canned goods are probably overdone. Some other sort of food? Money? Time?
The fastest and easiest way to help is donating money, because it helps the food banks' bulk purchasing power.
Food donations have to be manually sorted, and may not meet requirements.
First time volunteers have to be processed and trained, scheduled, etc.
This is good to know - thanks! I don't have much free time right now, so donating money is probably the easiest thing for me to do.
I did donate, though I'd bet that the Bay Area isn't going to be the worst-off place in the US WRT food-for-the-poor in all this.
But the high cost of living here can make the choices between food, utilities, transportation, and housing even more stark.