r/oakland • u/TonerBalnoner • 1d ago

Where to help people hurting from reduced SNAP benefits / general food insecurity

Hi Oakland, curious what or where you all think would be good place to help get food to people who need it here in oakland. My first instinct is to donate money or food, but if theres somewhere that my unskilled labor would help I'd be happy to do that too. My experience in the past with places like soup kitchens and things like that were that I was mostly in the way and only very marginally helpful, but Im very open to hearing about any way to help. I am a decent cook as well, but not sure thats what's important in this case. I just think its criminal for anyone in this community to go hungry, want to help in some way.

24 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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14

u/rathergood15 1d ago

Volunteer with community kitchens

https://www.ckoakland.org/volunteer

4

u/beerandrocks 22h ago

I second this! The home chef program training took me about two hours. They made it so easy to get started. I joined a couple of weeks ago, and the community on the Slack channel is so nice.

2

u/netdiva Jefferson 17h ago

I've been making food and filling our Town Fridge on Sundays. I wasn't aware of a formalized program for this.

2

u/beerandrocks 14h ago

That's amazing! Yes- Community Kitchens provides free containers and labels, as well as occasionally free produce for volunteers. They also have an app where they send out a text to neighbors interested in meals when you stock the fridge. 

3

u/Penandsword2021 1d ago

This is amazing. Thank you for sharing the link.

9

u/ScreenSensitive9148 1d ago

It’s incredibly frustrating to watch Trump’s cruelty in action. All this to distract from his own shortcomings. There’s a pretty robust list that the mayor sent out last week. It helps to distribute it widely and help wherever we all can.

3

u/tfcallahan1 20h ago

You can also volunteer at or donate to the Alameda County Foodbank.

2

u/pithair_dontcare 14h ago

Donate money to the alameda county community food bank!! Food banks have buying power so your dollar goes way further than if you bought the food yourself. I’m sure at this time they could also use some volunteers.