Food Bank

If you live in the Bay Area you'll hear a lot of ads from the food bank.  They ask for money and/or time to help feed the starving masses.

Now with the pandemic, a ton of people, including myself, are out of work.  The food bank exists to help these poor souls.  So I decided to avail myself of the services.

They give away food all over the city, but the easiest options are the drive-thru locations.  So I made an on-line reservation for Friday afternoon down on the Embarcadero.

It was a quick drive because no one's working and no one's on the freeway.

You hold your printed confirmation up to the window and they wave you in.  You follow the line, pop your hatch, and they load you up with a couple cartons, and off you go. Quick and easy.

There was a bit of a line when I got there but it moved quickly.

I felt a little out of place in my Honda amongst the Lexuses and Mercedes Benzes, but hey, I'm human too...

The goods: oatmeal, canned peaches, pasta and sauce, garbanzos, 3 cans of tuna, peanut butter...

Gallon of milk, pound of cheese, tub of yogurt, 2 large bags of sausage, and a 4 POUND HAM -- ham sandwiches are 80% of my diet so this was particularly welcome....

Big bag of apples, big bag of potatoes, and a nice Korean melon which I normally can't afford.

It's a pretty good system -- the only issue is having to hit a time window, and the drive is sort of a hassle.  I'll send them a note asking if we can get home delivery.

The old economic model meant you had to labor, to earn money, to buy food... now your unemployment checks pay the rent and the food is free.  Why didn't they think of this before?  So much simpler!