Second Harvest of Silicon Valley volunteer works as a one-man distribution team
SAN MATEO -- One man who regularly receives help from a South Bay food bank also works hard to give back, bringing food to those in need.
With the holiday season arriving, Bay Area food banks say the need for help has only increased with inflation and the continuing economic impacts of the pandemic. Over the next several weeks, KPIX will be taking a closer look at a need for help that stretches across our region. Delivering that help depends largely on volunteers.
Some of them, like Fletcher Sanford, receive food assistance themselves. However, Fletcher has also become a one-man distribution system for his neighbors and people across the community.
"Me, I get started here about 5:30 in the morning," said Fletcher. "On Thursday. Every Thursday."
Sunrise in San Mateo and the weekly Second Harvest food distribution is still hours away. Fletcher is ready.
"You see people in line all ready to go," he said, looking at the early crowd.
He is known here as First In Line Fletcher, as he always is.
"Yeah, first in line," he laughed.
But Fletcher wasn't here at 5:30 a.m. just for himself.
"I'm going to 11 families today," he told the distribution volunteers.
And with that, the operation begins. Over the past year, Fletcher hasn't just volunteered; he has become an extension of Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, finding new ways to get this food out into the community, and to those who otherwise might not be able to reach it.
"It's good, because the network, they say, 'Hey Fletch, if you need help...'" he explained on the way to a delivery. "And then I can take it to the other people that need food."
"Alight folks, groceries," he shouted upon arrival, knocking on doors to call out residents.
This delivery is for an apartment complex in San Mateo. And while Fletcher is making this all happen, he's not the actual manpower. What he's really doing is connecting people.
"So I don't have to do anything," he said. "It's all teamwork."
And it's not just on Thursdays. He organizes something like this most days, consistently feeding between 50 to 60 families a week.
"Oh, he helps a lot," said one recipient named Jose. "Because everything is expensive right now. So this helps a lot."
"Another factor we are really concerned about right now is a lot of people feel like we're kind of getting behind a pandemic," explained CEO of Second Harvest of Silicon Valley Leslie Bacho. "And as you can see here, the Meade has not changed our community. So many families are struggling."
For Second Harvest, economic factors are driving yet another surge in demand.
"Now what we see is just how hard it is for people to kind of come back out of the financial devastation of the pandemic," Bacho said. "And then, when you see inflation, like this, we just see so many people who are working, and still really struggling to make ends meet."
"I just lost my wife in August," said recipient Andy Love. "That brought me down to only my Social Security. I am so grateful to find this place."
Meeting that need depends on volunteers, and people like Fletcher are stepping up to make it happen.
"It's a rewarding thing that everybody's getting fed," Fletcher said. "That's the goal. Everybody is getting fed and not going hungry."