Food banks and Season of Sharing help Bay Area’s neediest

In Silicon Valley, down through the Peninsula, 1 out of every 10 people gets at least some food from a food bank.

Last year, the food banks took the $1.2 million donated and turned that into 2.52 million meals — more than two meals for each dollar donated by individuals and corporate sponsors.

[...] there are those that just come, said David Goodman, CEO of the Redwood Empire Food Bank, which serves Sonoma and surrounding counties.

While the food bank has always served that area, there’s a greater need now.

“As soon as the fire and police and paramedics leave, the food bank is there to serve people for the duration,” he said.

Even without the fires, 1 in 6 people in the region is hungry, with the food bank serving 82,000 individuals each year.

The Redwood Empire Food Bank is “magnificent,” Goodman said, offering not just a warehouse of food, but also precooked entrees prepared by chefs who use the donated food off shelves.

The entrees are sent to distribution locations along with the typical bags of groceries.

[...] the food bank has a Whole Foods-like market, with organic chicken, produce and other offerings — but it’s a store only for people who qualify for food stamps or meet other income requirements, proving they have a low income.

Of the money raised each year, 15 percent of the fund’s annual proceeds go to the Bay Area food banks.

The rest is provided to individuals throughout the region who have urgent needs — a month of rent, tires for a car, furniture or money for medical expenses.

At the grocery store, she chose peanut butter, jelly, bread and grapes, a small basket of groceries with something like a $15 price tag that she couldn’t afford, Jackson added.

For the past 29 years, The Chronicle’s Season of Sharing Fund has helped more than 100,000 Bay Area individuals and families facing an unexpected life crisis.

Fund.

[...] the Season of Sharing Fund has distributed more than $105 million to help those living in the Bay Area.

Each year, the fund provides temporary assistance to more than 4,500 families, allocating most of its grants for housing needs, as well as paying for other critical necessities such as essential furniture for families recovering from a fire in their home or helping to purchase a wheelchair.

Betty Denenberg Adler; Mary & Carey Allen; Mr. & Mrs. G. Artemoff, $250; Judy Barr; Susanne Baum; Allan Berenstein; Fred Bove, in memory of Eric Sorensen; Colette Brooks & David Harrison, $1,000, in memory of Helen King; Ross & Lillian Cadenasso, $1,000; Casey Family; Audrey Chun, $100; Jim & Kathy Clarke; Andy Coblentz, $250, in memory of Walter Miller; Jean Coblentz, in memory of Walter Miller; Mark & Judy Cohen; Marsha Cohen & Robert Feyer, in honor of Dara Levinson & Matt Silveira; Christine Cullens & Michael Muller, $250; Pete Danko, $25; Susanna Davila, in memory of Dick Curtis; Nancy & Hugh Ditzler, $300, in memory of Walter Haas Jr.; Bill Edson, $100; Roy & Betsy Eisenhardt, in honor of Joel Fleishman; Lee & Kent Fitzgerald, in memory of P.J. & Olive Fitzgerald; Lillian T. Fujimoto & David M. Hampton, $200; Richard & Susan Geiger, in memory of George & Thelma Geiger; Tom Greene & Deb Jensen; Jeff & Judy Greenhouse; Françoise Herrmann, $1,000, in memory of Andre & Paulette Herrmann; Terence & Carin Hird, $1,000; Ira Hirschfield & Tom Hansen, in honor of Diana & AJ Kallet; Susan Hogeland; Roy K. Hom, in memory of Lily Hom Skyer; Pamela Howard, $250, in memory of Elizabeth Lent Howard; Carolyn Hunt, $1,000; Jane & Malcolm Kirschenbaum, $1,000, in honor of Jennifer Kirschenbaum Park; Richard Kirschner & M. Kay Gartrell, $150, in memory of Walter Miller; Dan Kleiber, $200; Cynthia Koenigsberg & Harry Patsch, $300; Lisette & Greg Lehman, $50; Laurel Leichter & Michael Wilson; Peter J. Logan, $50; Mr. & Mrs. Charles F. Lowrey, $1,000, in honor of Eliza, Martha & Jamie; Gail MacGowan, $550; The Mallet Family, $500, in memory of the Mallet & Vigna Families; Greg Maple; Olympia Martyn & Donald Rubin, $300; Bruce Mussell & Monnie Boldt, $1,000; Lynda Nguyen; Karna Nisewaner, $150, in memory of Ken Whiting Nisewaner; The Norris Family, $100, in honor of Edmondo Lopez on his 80th Birthday; KK Norwood, $100; Marsha O’Bannon, $1,000; Susan Patrick, $250; Virginia Philhower, $1,000; Sarah Plotkin, in memory of Walter Miller; Marianne Poblenz, $300, in memory of Fred G. Poblenz; Klaus & Ellen Porzig, $1,500; Charlotte Haas Prime & Josh Prime, $500, in memory of Walter & Evelyn Haas; Tanya Prioste, $10; Louis & Marcia Rose, in memory of Heather A. Rose; Steve Rundstrom, $500; Hubert Russell, $1,000, in memory of Ruth Pannier Russell; Mr. & Mrs. James F. Schultz, $500; Warren Snaider, in memory of Himey & Ida Snaider; Robert Stelzner & Tricia Healy, $1,000, in memory of Mary Healy; Elizabeth Storey, $100; Robert Tat; Susan Taylor & Bob Fabry, $1,000; Ellen Webster, $1,000; Lawrence Wilson.