Times are changing, and so are the pantries!

With growing numbers of people in need coming to pantries only to find long lines and programs at capacity, the SF Food Bank has decided it’s time for a change. They are changing their Pantry Program to better serve those in need of food, and St. Anthony’s is excited to be a part of it. Here’s what you need to know.

What is the Food Bank? The San Francisco Food Bank is a non-profit organization that distributes food to those who need it most. The SF Food Bank is one of the Dining Room’s strongest partners, contributing low-cost and donated items in bulk so that we can continue to serve an average of 2400 meals per day for only $0.50 per meal.

What are Pantry Programs? Besides providing food in bulk to service agencies, the Food Bank serves individual and family households through a network of pantry programs throughout the Bay Area located at various partner locations, of which St. Anthony’s is one. The Food Bank delivers items to be handed out to households and relies on volunteers and partner agencies at each site to package and distribute these pantry items to qualifying households.

For many years, St. Anthony’s has facilitated two pantry programs in correlation with the Food Bank: EFAP and Brown Bag. This summer, one is closing while the other is expanding.

What is EFAP? The Emergency Food Assistance Program, otherwise known as EFAP, began distributing surplus commodities and additional items in 1981. The food is meant as an emergency solution to hunger. This pantry program has distributed food in the Dining Room to up to 800 hundred guests at a time on the 1^st Saturday of every month for many years. This outdated program, however, did not fit into the changes being made in pantry enrollment systems at the Food Bank, so June 1^st marked the last food distribution for EFAP. EFAP participants will be invited to join in on other pantries that will have a broader selection of healthy items available.

What is Brown Bag? This program provides healthy produce and protein pantry items to seniors. The distribution at St. Anthony’s used to only happen once a month, but with the end of EFAP and the changes happening in the SF Food Bank’s enrollment system, we have opened up Brown Bag to be a twice monthly pantry. Starting at St. Anthony’s in August, up to 200 seniors will now receive healthy pantry items twice a month.

So what is changing at the Food Bank?

Until now, pantries have functioned more or less on their own, maintaining their own databases of participants and deciding when they are full and when they can sign up new people. The new Pantry Enrollment System (PES) will change that, allowing for increased food accessibility.

PES is the Food Bank’s response to an increased need for food, pantries at capacity, and long lines. PES is a central database system maintained by the Food Bank that will enroll every participant in a single pantry program. The system is being rolled out all over the city, neighborhood by neighborhood. Tenderloin/SOMA neighborhoods will begin transition in the next few weeks.

How will PES work?

One person from each household/family will be asked to complete a one-time enrollment form and confirm their identity and address for that household/family. Each household/family will be asked to choose only one pantry which they will attend multiple times a month to pick up food. In other neighborhoods, this has successfully freed up spots for new pantry seekers, successfully serving more people in need by increasing accessibility.

The take-away…