Bringing Joy and Nutritious Food to Families in San Francisco

Food insecurity is a critical issue in San Francisco and Marin County today. Before the pandemic, one in five people was at risk of hunger in the area and the need has only increased. So, for the San Francisco team’s FH4Inclusion initiative we chose to partner with the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank  — a long-standing nonprofit with one mission: to end hunger in San Francisco and Marin. The food bank has been tackling food insecurity in the Bay Area since 1987 through its food pantry network and home-delivered groceries food assistance enrollment. Every week, more than 55,000 households count on the organization for food assistance.

The organization operates 27 Pop-Up Pantries throughout the city, and our volunteers participated in one of the final pantry events of the year. These events were first organized in response to the pandemic as traditional food banks had to close due to health risks. They continue to be critical connection points for communities to receive needed groceries. 

With these events, staff and volunteers take over an outdoor space, setting up and taking down a fully operational food distribution center within a matter of hours. Food recipients sign up ahead of the event and receive an allotment of fresh vegetables and fruits depending on their household size. On a windy day in December, our colleagues spent the morning distributing that food to local residents, working with other volunteers and getting to know each other in the process.

“It was a great opportunity to get out of the office and directly impact our community. In our one session, we served more than 150 community members in need of food assistance. I’m grateful for the support of our leadership to organize these activities, and I’m looking forward to more events that allow us to give back while strengthening our FH team” said Chelsie Lui, TRUE Global Intelligence research analysist, who helped coordinate the volunteering activities.

In the spirit of FH4Inclusion and the holidays, our team also wanted to make sure that we offered our remote employees an opportunity to participate, so we partnered with the SF Firefighters Toy Program. This is the largest and, nationally, the oldest program of its kind — distributing over 200,000 toys to more than 40,000 under-resourced children and families. We set up a barrel in the office for donation drop-offs in person and created an Amazon Wishlist for FleishmanHillard employees to donate directly. Very quickly, the barrel filled with books and toys for kids and families to enjoy a happy holiday season. It was a meaningful way to round out the year!