by Olman Valle Hernández
Getting to the United States is not easy for thousands of immigrant families who enter the State of California every day, and who are looking for a way to stabilize themselves in San Francisco, known as a Sanctuary City.
The City offers many aids and benefits to people who seek the American dream in precarious economic conditions while they struggle to pay for housing or face the difficult task of being received by family or friends while finding personal, work, social and stability. food.
That is why food banks have become places of great demand due to the needs of people who live in the city and thanks to religious and non-profit organizations they facilitate and provide this type of support that consists of food boxes. food containing milk, eggs, basic grains, bread, vegetables, oil, among others.
Currently in the city there are different social assistance programs, and one of them is food banks. These organizations, with the help of volunteers, are dedicated to recovering food – especially non-perishable foods – from companies and supermarkets. They do this through officially recognized charitable and social aid institutions. They are the ones who have the closest contact with the groups of people in need, which avoids any waste or misuse of donations.
Food banks operate in developed societies, such as San Francisco, where they awaken the spirit of solidarity and spread the human and cultural values necessary to help mitigate the social inequality that is manifested in the existence of food surpluses and pockets of poverty and existing marginalization.
Mrs. María Elena Carballo, 64 years old, who has lived in San Francisco for more than 40 years, is a beneficiary of the food program in San Francisco, which is located on 17th and Mission streets, and where 500 people are currently benefiting. families from the surrounding area, including Asians and Latinos.
Ella Carballo claims that this type of help generates a sigh of relief and savings in her pocket to cover other basic needs.
“For me it is of great help that every 15 days according to the calendar they support us, and even more so for an elderly person like me; This helps me and saves me a lot, because then I no longer have to go to the Markets to buy, and I buy some other basic personal things that I need at that moment,” said Carballo.
In such a situation, the national network of food banks, Feeding America, exists within the city, which obtains and distributes more than 6,000 million meals a year in communities throughout the United States, and is a leading entity in our country in the fight. against hunger.
To get this help in San Francisco you must do a search by zip code or state with the food bank locator, and contact the food bank that serves your area. These will give you information about nearby free food pantries and programs.
In San Francisco there is the Feeding America network, which has 200 food banks and 60,000 community kitchens and feeding programs throughout the Bay Area. It serves virtually every community with free food, without expecting a donation or reimbursement in return.
Food banks and their agencies are committed to providing a friendly and confidential service, and visitors are expected to go through a brief intake or registration process without imposing their immigration status.
