San Francisco's Soup Kitchens

by
Nancy Hahn
Food Runners Dispatcher &
Volunteer Coordinator

It is estimated that currently, there are 7,500 homeless people in San Francisco.  And, the number is growing. Getting enough to eat while living on the street is not easy. Nor is it easy for the working poor. In a city where making under  $117,000/year is as tagged low income, the number of working poor is ballooning rapidly. How do you get enough to eat when you have no money for food? For many, the answer is dining at one of San Francisco's soup kitchens.

• St. Anthony's Dining Room serves a hot meal daily to 1,500-2000 people.

• Glide feeds 1,500-2000 people, breakfast and lunch seven days/week and dinner, Monday through Friday. 

• Mother Brown's Dining Room in Bayview provides breakfast and dinner to 300-400 people every day.

• Martin DePorres House of Hospitality supplies breakfast and lunch, Tuesday through Saturday, and brunch on Sunday to 150-200 people on average.

• City Team offers nightly dinner, Tuesday through Friday and a Saturday "all you can eat" lunch buffet. 150-200 partake on a regular basis. 

• Fraternite Notre Dame dishes out lunch Monday through Wednesday in their tiny dining room in the Tenderloin. You can find the Fraternite Notre Dame's Sisters serving dinner at UN Plaza on Tuesdays. 

All told, that's a lot of food for a lot of people. You've seen the lines. They often appear to be mostly men. But women, seniors and families are in need too. Hunger does not discriminate and waiting in long lines can be tough, if not impossible for seniors and small children. Shelters like Glide and St. Anthony's provide special hours for seniors and families.

Volunteer Frank R collecting  Saturday Ferry Building Farmer Market donations

It takes the efforts of countless people and agencies to keep the soup kitchens running and able to provide for such large numbers. Food Runners is an important part of the stew, delivering much needed provisions to all the soup kitchens regularly. On Saturdays, the Food Runners truck swings by Martin DePorres with loads of fresh produce from the Ferry Building Framers Market. On Mondays and Tuesdays, the Food Runners truck stops by Fraternite Notre Dame with ingredients to be cooked like eggs, produce and milk donated by Whole Foods. He daily deliveries to Mother Brown's kitchen bringing meat, produce, dairy and even flowers from Trader Joe's. Johnny, the Food Runners Van Driver makes a daily stop at City Team providing catered food from the tech companies to be heated and served in City Team's dining room. When very large donations like 350 gallons of gelato or 30 cases of chicken tenders come in, Food Runners shuttles the food to Glide or St. Anthony's Dining Room.

Food Runners truck delivering to Fraternite Notre Dame

Keeping San Franciscans in need fed is all in a day's work at Food Runners. The importance of the mission cannot be overstated. It is a privilege to be able to help people in need in San Francisco.