Gov. Gavin Newsom this week announced plans to deploy the California National Guard to assist at food banks across the state as the federal government shutdown drags on, but people in the Bay Area are unlikely to come across those troops.
At Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, officials are appreciative of Newsom’s offer, but they are not asking for Cal Guard at this time, partly due to community fear.
“We also anticipate seeing an increase in need and we may need more volunteers out at our distribution sites, but we’re also in this moment where having folks in uniform might create some fear at our sites, so that is why we don’t envision utilizing them at our distribution sites,” Second Harvest of Silicon Valley CEO Leslie Bacho said.
The San Francisco-Marin Food Bank is also declining the use of Cal Guard, as is the Alameda County Community Food Bank.
The Alameda County Community Food Bank serves up about 50 million meals a year and plans to access the millions in state CalFood funds.
“That funding alone is about $2.4 million annually that we would be seeing to help us purchase food,” said Michael Altfest at the Alameda County Community Food Bank. “Thanks to that advanced funding, especially as we head into November, the holidays are already a very busy time for us, that’s offering us a lot of flexibility to already ramp up our food purchasing.”
The state money was already earmarked for food banks, meaning many organizations already had that money in their budget plans. Those organizations will still need a lot of individual outside donations to meet the growing need in the days ahead.