South San Francisco – Elida Valencia Sobalvarro moved from car to truck to SUV at Orange Memorial Park on Monday, leaning into rolled-down windows as drivers waited in two slow-moving lines.
“Would you like a chicken or a turkey?” she asked, marking the choice on each windshield.
It was a question she might not have been able to pose without emergency funding approved by the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors.
Holiday proteins – the centerpieces of most holiday meals – have become difficult for families to afford amid inflation and the region’s high cost of living. Sobalvarro, the director of the YMCA Community Resource Center in South San Francisco, said the County’s support ensured all of the roughly 650 families who requested food assistance could take home a chicken or turkey this year rather than go without.
“Folks are struggling,” Sobalvarro said. “Food insecurity, housing insecurity, lost income — we’re seeing all of it.”
YMCA staff, joined by eager volunteers and city employees, filled trunks with milk, dried pinto beans, rice, carrots, zucchini and more as a steady stream of families pulled through: babies in car seats, three generations in a minivan, a single man in a work pickup.
“The County’s emergency funding for proteins will put a turkey or chicken on every Thanksgiving table, and with it a generous portion of dignity,” Supervisor Jackie Speier said. “No family should go hungry or be deprived of a holiday tradition because they can’t afford it. San Mateo County is one of the most expensive places to live and our residents are hurting. It’s our responsibility to ease their pain.”
The turkeys and chickens were the stars of the show – everyone made way when a big-rig eased through the line, its driver delivering a pallet of frozen chickens and prompting more than a few “why did the chicken cross the road” jokes up and down the line.
The County’s efforts to ensure no pantries go empty this holiday season come as service providers report a rise in need as inflation takes a steady toll on paychecks or fixed incomes.
Earlier this year, the Board of Supervisors approved up to $4 million for Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, followed by nearly $900,000 in October for Core Service Agencies — local nonprofits that provide emergency food, rent assistance and other safety-net services.
A temporary pause in CalFresh benefits during the federal shutdown strained budgets further, prompting the County to expand its 211 hotline, launch a “find food now” website and coordinate food redistribution with all 23 school districts.
Among those volunteering on Monday was Alicia Barrera-Contreras, who is also a YMCA client. Inflation, she said through a Spanish interpreter, has made turkeys especially expensive this year. Receiving one through the distribution means she can prepare a traditional Nicaraguan-style holiday meal with carrots and chayote for her husband, daughter, son-in-law and sisters at their home in South San Francisco.
She volunteers “because it’s important that everybody has food on the table,” she said, laughing with other volunteers as they opened boxes and joked with one another.
Back in the line of cars, Sobalvarro stepped toward the next rolled-down window. She lifted her marker and asked again, “Would you like a chicken or a turkey?”
The driver smiled.