Food Shift’s COVID-19 Relief Program

Operation Together fills in the gaps where regular food supply chains are interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, linking excess produce from wholesalers to frontline food assistance organizations. Food Shift supplies food to organizations serving food insecure people, including unhoused, low income, elderly, and immunocompromised folks who are disproportionately burdened by COVID. Contact info@foodshift.net to get involved.

Health is a right, not a privilege

This pandemic affects us all, but it has hit our most vulnerable community members, and the frontline organizations that serve them, the hardest. Financial insecurity drives food insecurity, and an increasing portion of our community is unsure of where their next meal will come from.

Facing food supply chain disruptions, food assistance organizations can’t scale to keep pace with increasing demand. To make matters worse, many frontline organizations are pushed to purchase bulk stock of pantry staples at grocery stores, unintentionally competing with the very constituents they aim to serve. Nourishing people is a local activity, and grassroots operations working at a local level lack access to the relationships we have at the wholesale level, like our partnership with SF Market among others.

Through Operation Together, Food Shift is working to make health accessible to all in our community. Procurement of fresh, healthy food is shifted upstream to our operation so that our partners at the frontlines can focus their attention and energy on the last mile of food distribution, and so that the food chain as a whole is made more efficient. Our partners on the frontline ensure that food reaches food insecure people in the East Bay. We have a waitlist of organizations requesting our redistribution services.

We have oriented ourselves towards food and neighbors that most often get overlooked, focusing on needs that other organizations cannot address. For instance, food banks cannot accept bulk food donations that require labor to repackage into smaller portions. Food Shift can step in to help. Non-English speakers, like our partners in the immigrant Mam community, face language barriers to accessing food aid like SNAP. Food Shift prioritizes food for these partners.

To underwrite our services for our community, we completed the Operation Together Campaign, surpassing our original goal to fundraise $50,000 in monetary support and $50,000 in in-kind donations. In-kind donations alone totaled over $100,000! Thank you so much to our supporters, included below, who have made our work possible. 

The campaign may be over, but Operation Together continues. Whether it’s through funding, supplies, or services, we invite you to join us. All donations help sustain our food distribution service. If you donate $50 or more below, we’ll send you our illustrated cookbook for free as a thank you. If you are able to contribute supplies, such as N95 masks, gloves, or grocery bags, contact us at info@foodshift.net. To donate your time visit our Jobs and Volunteering page to learn about both onsite and remote opportunities for you to join #OperationTogether. 

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Data Corner

Food Recovery:  April 2020 – Present

361+ tons of food redistributed since early April 2020

13k+ food insecure people reached weekly

15+ frontline distribution partners

$1,096k+ in-kind food donations (722k+ lbs)
$16k+ in-kind non-food donations

Operation Together Partners

Operation Together is made possible through partnership with community organizations and programs that know the people they are serving. Our partners include:

  • Food Donors that provide surplus or cosmetically imperfect food
  • In-kind donors giving supplies, equipment and services
  • Community organizations that distribute food to nourish our neighbors
  • Funders that help underwrite Food Shift

Please visit our Partnerships page for our list of partners.

Testimonials

Candice Elder, East Oakland Collective

“Food Shift is our primary source of fresh produce. The fresh fruit and vegetable bags that we receive each week are wonderfully prepared and help us address the deep food insecurity in East Oakland. Our work has dramatically intensified and expanded to address the food insecurity and essential needs of Oakland’s most vulnerable populations during this time. The unhoused community is facing extreme food insecurity as many of the community donors they rely on for food are sheltering in place.”

Markku Heikkila, CityTeam Oakland

“Food Shift assists us with produce so that we’re able to provide balanced meals to community members in Oakland who have fallen on hard times. Due to the recent pandemic we have seen the need for meals and food boxes rise, and we wouldn’t be able to meet the need without Food Shift’s help.”

Anonymous father with one child, Mam Community

“Tonight I’ll have something on my table to eat with my little one. I don’t need to run to the store because I have food. Bless all of you.”

Henry Sales, Mam Community

“During a health crisis that forces all of us to “take refuge in place,” the last thing anyone should think about is “where am I going to find money to feed my family?”, How am I going to secure the income, gas, and electricity”, “how am I going to buy my family’s needs?” These are all common questions asked by many people, especially our Maya Mam immigrant community. We are very thankful that we’re partnering with Food Shift because many of our people are getting fresh food.”

Press

“Born Out of Need, New Localized Food Networks are Emerging,” published in Earth Island Journal, is an op-ed by our Operations Manager, Audrey Mei Yi Brown. A later version was re-published in the East Bay Express under the title, “A Chance to Reimagine Food Distribution.” 

“Food insecurity amplified: How the coronavirus impacts food justice organizations and the communities they serve,” in The Daily Californian featured our Executive Director, Yuka Nagashima.

“How Covid-19 Is Transforming Our Food System,” on Terra Verde radio featured an interview with Yuka Nagashima. 

“The Eater SF Guide on How to Help: Where to give, volunteer, donate food, and support local restaurants during the novel coronavirus pandemic,” in Eater SF featured Food Shift’s Operation Together