CANA - Mission Food Hub
1333 Florida Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415.206.0577
Contact – Roberto Hernandez
415.987.0577 latinzoneprod@aol.com
PRESS RELEASE
November 9, 2020
San Francisco, CA
Mission Food Hub Puts Hope Back into Thanksgiving for Local Families
As San Francisco anticipates a new day in the White House and a local Vice President-elect, the Bay Area still faces pressing issues. For 7,000 families in San Francisco’s Mission District – the neighborhood hardest hit by COVID-19 (and before that gentrification) – the struggle to put food on the table continues. As Thanksgiving nears, the Mission District-based Mission Food Hub is going into high gear. The local volunteer-run nonprofit’s goal is to offer 7,000 healthy Thanksgiving meal kits to San Franciscans who have been most impacted by the pandemic and economic downturn, to make sure that everyone is able to enjoy a home cooked holiday meal on Thanksgiving.
In order to achieve their goal, the Mission Food Hub is looking to the San Francisco community to help them out. The Thanksgiving meal ingredients will cost more than $200,000, funds which founder Roberto Hernandez is hoping to raise from donations over the next two weeks. “Thankfully, some people who lost their jobs are going back to work now. But many families still don’t have enough money for food because they permanently lost their jobs or are on reduced hours or because they have to stay home with their kids. We’re here for them, so they can have a holiday too,” says Hernandez.
Hernandez began the Food Hub seven months ago from his garage, recognizing the dire need to feed families in his Mission District neighborhood struck by the COVID-19 crisis. Community members and local foundations have supported the organization with generous contributions, but the number of families seeking relief has grown exponentially and the line for food is often several blocks long. Each week, hundreds of volunteers work together at the Mission Food Hub’s warehouse on Alabama Street to make sure that no one goes unfed, and that the food offered is culturally appropriate and nutritious.
“Many of the people we feed have no access to government benefits and would go hungry without our mutual support,” says Hernandez. “Children, elders, immigrants, the disabled and families suffering COVID-19 infection have been hit really hard by this. To them, a healthy and full meal on Thanksgiving is a sign of hope and healing, which is exactly what the holiday is all about.”
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Donations to the Mission Food Hub, a project of Carnaval San Francisco (CANA) can be mailed to: Mission Food Hub – CANA, 1333 Florida St, San Francisco, CA 94110, or made online at: givebutter.com/6HtzZM.
Thanksgiving meal groceries kits will be distributed at the Mission Food Hub’s warehouse at 701 Alabama St. on November 20th, 23rd, and 25th between 10:00 AM and 3:00 PM.
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The Latino Task Force COVID - 19, was created to bring together a coalition of organization & government to address impact of COVID - 19 for Latinos in San Francisco.
The Mission District is Ground ZERO for people with the coronavirus in San Francisco. Food inequity is impacting over 12,000 Latinos in San Francisco who are unemployed. The Mission Food Hub was given birth to provide groceries for families, and is managed and operated by 156 volunteers. We started providing 500 families with one grocery bag once a week but the lines of people rapidly grew to 1,800 within a couple of weeks. We are now providing cultural appropriate groceries to 7,000 families, three days a week:
Monday, Wednesday & Friday at 10:00 AM
701 Alabama Street
San Francisco, CA 94110