Berkeley Food Pantry Newsletter
April 2025
Proposed Federal Funding Cuts Threaten Food Banks and Pantries
In addition to the Berkeley Food Pantry’s (BFP) food recovery program, the vast majority of our food comes from Alameda County Community Food Bank (ACCFB). ACCFB supplies food and assistance to 400 partner agencies, including food pantries, kitchens, and shelters in Alameda County. BFP is a ACCFB partner agency.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) supplies critical commodities (produce, dairy and protein) to food banks and pantries across the country through The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP).
Congress' recently adopted Continuing Resolution maintains funding levels for federal programs through September 30, 2025. However, the New York Times reported (March 20, 2025) that the Trump administration has “paused” $500 million in approved funding for TEFAP without any advanced notice to food banks and pantries. Reuters posted a similar story on March 25, 2025. While other food banks have experienced issues with TEFAP loads and other funding sources, at this time, ACCFB has thankfully not experienced any pauses. Regardless, there is ample uncertainty out there.
This recent action, coupled with the House Republican proposed budget for fiscal year 2025-26, spells potential drastic cuts in federal funding for food security programs. The proposed budget calls for $1 Trillion in cuts to safety net programs and it isn’t known at this time which programs will bear the brunt of the cuts.
In addition to these anticipated cuts, USDA’s SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) program may see a cut of $230 billion, of which $30 billion would be cut from California’s CalFresh program. The double whammy of reductions in food supplies and cuts in direct benefits for recipients will put enormous pressure on food banks and pantries and heighten food insecurity in our community and throughout the country.
Without food supplies from ACCFB, there would be significantly less food to distribute at BFP.
Please see the Advocacy and Action Corner article to find out how to get involved and make your voice heard to maintain critical funding for these essential programs.
If you’d like to contribute to the Pantry, click the Donate button below.
Advocacy and Action Corner
Those of us who volunteer and support the Berkeley Food Pantry in so many ways may be wondering about additional ways to get involved to educate our elected officials and speak out about the importance of funding programs like the Berkeley Food Pantry. Food banks and pantries help ensure food security for so many members of our community, from families with children and seniors to people with disabilities and unhoused individuals.
Alameda County Community Food Bank (ACCFB) makes it easy for those of you who want to do a little bit more! From form letters on the pressing issues of the moment (mostly opposing proposed deep cuts to the social services safety net) and advocacy action alerts to a Food Justice Task Force that goes a little deeper on issues of food security and food justice, they are all just a click away. You can sign up for all three, or start out with a letter to your elected official:
Sign up to receive ACCFB’s Advocacy Action Alerts
Current action page to send a message to Congress opposing these cuts
Apply to join ACCFB’s Community Organizing Food Justice Task Force
Mark your calendars for ACCFB’s annual lobbying day Hunger Action Day, ACCFB’s biggest advocacy event of the year, in Sacramento on Tuesday, April 29th. Add your name to the waitlist at https://accfb.org/advocacy.
A note from the ACCFB staff about the importance of writing to your Congressperson and/or Senators – It’s important to write to your elected officials, even if you know they are committed to maintaining, and even expanding, funding for food banks and pantries. They pass along what their constituents tell them to the relevant legislators who sit on the various committees that vote on funding, and other important aspects, of the Federal government’s involvement in the national network of food banks and pantries. If you write to a legislator who is not your Representative or Senator, the letter may be disregarded. So please write solely to your Congressperson and/or Senators.
CROP Walk & Potluck at Live Oak Park
Join Berkeley Food Pantry Volunteers for the CROP Hunger Walk & Potluck Celebration at Live Oak Park - Sunday, May, 18th
Get your walking shoes ready! The Berkeley Food Pantry Volunteer Advisory Committee (VAC) is organizing a team of BFP volunteers and supporters to participate in the Berkeley CROP Hunger Walk on Sunday, May, 18, at 1:30 pm. Following the CROP Walk, we will gather at Live Oak Park, at 4:30 pm, for a Spring potluck. You can participate in both events, just the CROP Walk or just the potluck. Everyone is welcome!
Join walkers across the US in a 3.1 mile walk in Berkeley to raise money for world-wide emergency response food programs, as well as longer-term solutions like enhancing food security and providing sustainable safe water supplies. The walk begins and ends at St. Mary Magdalen Church in North Berkeley. Free parking is available and a rest area/pit stop is available at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, the race’s half-way point.
The Crop Project began in 1947, when farmers were asked to donate food and seed crops to our hungry neighbors in post-World War II Europe and Asia. The first CROP Hunger Walks took place in Bismarck, North Dakota (1969), and York, Pennsylvania (1970). Since then, CROP Hunger Walk events have been held in hundreds of communities, large and small, raising millions of dollars to eradicate hunger and poverty. 75% of the money raised goes to Church World Service, while the remaining 25% stays local and is split between our Pantry and Dorothy Day House. The Pantry has received funds from the walk for several years.
For more info or to sign up, go to https://events.crophungerwalk.org/crophungerwalks/event/berkeleyca
If you are interested in joining the BFP Volunteers Team, donating to the Team, or attending the potluck, please email debbiepotter@comcast.net.
We hope to see you at the CROP Walk and Volunteer Potluck on Sunday, May 18!
Local Community Groups Pitch In
During the past few months, several local community groups have helped out at the Pantry. Here are three of them:
West Berkeley’s Black Pine Circle School sent a gaggle of middle-schoolers to us in January. Their enthusiasm was contagious and we hope to see them again.
Berkeley-based D&H Construction Company regularly sends groups of hard-working staff to give us a hand.
UC Berkeley Habitat for Humanity students spend every Friday afternoon from noon – 4pm. They are a huge help packing bags, distributing food, and getting the sanctuary ready for Sunday services.
These groups provide a boost to our regular volunteers and instill a sense of volunteering and service to their larger community. We appreciate their assistance!
From The Staff
The response to our fundraising email in December was tremendous! The money we raised will make a big difference at the Pantry. Many thanks for the generosity of those who donated!
We’d like to announce the hiring of Peter Macfarlane as our Database Administrator and Analyst. He will be centralizing and analyzing our income streams to better understand the sources of our financial support. A Bay Area native, Peter has worked in fundraising operations for the American Conservatory Theater, the Asian Art Museum, and the Oakland Museum. He has volunteered at the Pantry on Mondays for the last 18 months, initially filling produce bags and now checking in clients from 2-4pm.
Jonas Osmond is no longer on staff at the Pantry working with grants, fundraising, and the Newsletter. He is a pleasure to work with and luckily for us, he will continue volunteering. We thank him for his efforts.
You may have noticed that Molly Crowther is now using the name Max! They appreciate everyone’s efforts to support and remember the change so far :)
- Alex, Max, and Chris
Meet the Food Recovery Crew
The Pantry counts on food donations from grocery stores to supplement what we receive from the Alameda County Community Food Bank (ACCFB). These stores offer food that is at or close to sell by or expiration dates (but still wholesome and safe to eat) such as meat, dairy, produce, bread, cheese, and salads. They also give us excess stock (think extra turkeys after the holidays).
It takes a team of about 10 dedicated volunteers to get the food from the stores to the Pantry for distribution to our clients. They rescued approximately 460,000 pounds of surplus food in 2024 from stores like Target, Whole Foods, Berkeley Natural Grocery, Safeway, and Trader Joe’s for redistribution to Berkeley and Albany households. That’s about 3,000 pounds of food every day the Pantry is open!
Here’s the background on three of these stalwarts:
Lorenzo Kampel’s food recovery career spans nine years. For the past four years, Lorenzo has hauled food from Target, La Farine, and other nearby stores to the Pantry three days a week. He’s recently started making a weekly trek on Thursdays to the ACCFB for extra produce. This makes a huge difference since we are serving record numbers of people who love fresh produce. Lorenzo derives indirect satisfaction from his volunteering and relishes the people contact in his work (especially when he delivers food to clients at Redwood Gardens every other Tuesday). It’s not all peaches and cream; it can be challenging to pack up food at the stores and loading ramps can be tricky to navigate. But this doesn’t deter Lorenzo from his appointed rounds!
The husband and wife team of Richard Lindenau & Janet Klein have kept usable food out of landfills for 30 years. Their first efforts were at Noah’s Bagels. They picked up several yard waste bags full of day-old bagels which they repackaged and distributed to local Senior Centers. They moved on to recover food at Trader Joe’s seven days a week for several years. These days they salvage food at Safeway on Wednesdays and Fridays with a stop at Whole Foods on Mondays. They know exactly how many food-laden banana boxes will fit in their cavernous minivan! As if this isn’t enough, this tireless duo also rescues bread every Sunday from Acme Bakery. Janet & Richard find volunteering brings them great happiness and satisfaction knowing food is not rotting in the landfill but instead is donated to our clients.
The Food Recovery crew, like all the other crews at the Pantry, provides a vital service getting food to people in need. The next Newsletter in the summer will highlight another crew.
News from the Volunteer Advisory Committee
We hope everyone has been enjoying their shifts! Rain or shine, volunteers show up in force to serve the Berkeley/Albany community (and beyond) and help bring food stability to those who need it most. We are experiencing challenging times as the federal government steps away from funding critical safety net services.
Our end-of-year funding appeal was a big success. We mailed out 43 aprons to generous supporters who each donated more than $200. Marice Ashe will be heading up a fundraising committee (if you are interested in participating, please email Marice at mariceashe@gmail.com). She introduced volunteer Peter Macfarlane to members of the Oversight Committee and Peter is now building a donor database for the Pantry. The database will be crucial going forward as we ramp up fundraising. Aidan Mulqueeney, another VAC member, is working with staff on grant writing.
We will be sponsoring a BFP Volunteers Team to participate in the annual Berkeley CROP Walk to raise money for the Pantry (see related article above). Please participate by walking or funding someone on your BFP shift to walk!
Spring Potluck! The VAC wants to continue to grow our volunteer community and provide the best volunteer experience possible. To that end, we will be hosting a Spring potluck at Live Oak Park following the CROP Walk. Both events take place on Sunday, May 18th. The CROP Walk starts at 1:30 pm and the Potluck starts at 4:30 pm. Everyone is invited and we hope to see you at one or both May 18 events.
As always, if you have any feedback, suggestions, etc. for the VAC, please email Debbie Potter at debbiepotter@comcast.net.
By the Numbers
We continue to see record numbers of households that need assistance putting food on the table.
Here are our numbers for the past 3 months:
January: 152 households per day / 325 total people in households
February: 136 households per day / 304 total people in households
March: 140 households per day / 309 total people in households
BERKELEY FOOD PANTRY
1600 Sacramento Street
Berkeley, CA 94702
(510) 525-2280
Newsletter produced by George Baranowski, Max Crowther, and Debbie Potter
April 2025