Community Stories

Nearly 300,000 people in San Diego County are facing hunger. Your classmates, neighbors, friends, and colleagues. Hunger is all around us and can often be hard to recognize. We spoke with a few people who receive food assistance from Feeding San Diego; their stories are inspiring.

Below is a collection of a fraction of the lives you change when you support Feeding San Diego.

Help Feed Your Neighbors in Need

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“To all of the people that are involved in making Feeding San Diego happen, the volunteers, everyone that runs it, the donors, keep doing what you’re doing. We really appreciate it. It doesn’t go unnoticed. You never know when you can go from a stable family to someone that needs help with extra food for the month.”

Voices from Feeding San Diego Food Distributions

In partnership with local community and agency partners, Feeding San Diego hosts free food distributions, providing access to nutritious food to anyone in need. Here are stories of some of the community members who attend these distributions.

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Deborah & Theo

Grandmother and grandson standing at Feeding San Diego food distribution

“Theo is my grandson and I’m his caretaker when his mom is at work. I’ve been unemployed for a long time. I had really bad issues with my legs and wasn’t able to stand a lot. I was a single parent myself with five kids, divorced. I’ve been coming to this pantry off and on for years. I was taking care of my aunt who had Alzheimer’s for her final few years so this really helped then. I can’t afford the fresh stuff, and the fresh stuff is more valuable to me than the canned. Thank you to everyone who makes this possible. Hopefully someday things will turn around and I can be a donor.”

Liam, Rebecca, Finnegan, & Kinsley

Feeding San Diego distribution partner STEP serves free food to veterans and their families on June 18, 2022.Liam

“It is so helpful, especially with how much groceries and diapers we need right now. It’s unimaginable how helpful these are. Especially the healthier foods for them, because they go through it like crazy. We moved here recently from Pensacola, Florida, so really different cost of living. All my friends always think that we’re set and get free housing. Thankfully they allot money for housing and thankfully, because with the price of rentals right now, the cost of electricity. It means a lot to have help, especially with these two. Thank you so much.”

Sabrina

Feeding San Diego distribution partner STEP serves free food to veterans and their families on June 18, 2022.

“We are lower enlisted, we just moved to this base, and are trying to get ourselves established. There’s such a misconception about military members making so much money, but the harsh reality is that we don’t and sometimes we’re just living paycheck to paycheck, eating everything out of our pantry between then. It is so appreciated that there are people out there that do care enough about our military members and their families to reach out and help.”

$50 helps provide 100 meals for San Diegans like Stephanie, Deborah, Liam, and Sabrina

Voices from Client’s Kitchens

Through our Kitchen Diaries initiative, we spoke more in-depth with some of our clients.  They invited us into their homes to share how access to free food resources impacts their day-to-day.

Hear More Kitchen Diaries

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“We know that we wouldn’t have any of this support if it weren’t for the people that donate, and hopefully, I’m on that other side and that one day I could be that person. So we are very grateful. My kids are very grateful.”

Your Support Changes Lives

You have the power to change the lives of people like Karlyn, Melissa, and John. Give the gift of food access to your neighbors in need, while also keeping surplus food from going to waste. Donate food, funds, or time to Feeding San Diego and help protect people and the planet.

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