Alameda Food Bank serves our friends and neighbors with a wide variety of choices in foods to satisfy their diverse culinary preferences. We know that our multicultural community celebrates many distinctive religious holidays and cultural events and that family recipes are rich with a sense of place and identity. Your support helps us honor those traditions with culturally-relevant foods which nourish the soul as well as the body.

To be responsive, we need to monitor the holiday calendar and adjust food purchases and quantities accordingly. Our Warehouse Manager, Josh England, does a terrific job sourcing distributors that offer specialty items at the best prices to accommodate our limited budget. “My goal is to give our shoppers choices that will allow them to cook the signature holiday dishes and comfort foods they grew up enjoying – whether they come from Alameda or half-way around the world,” says England. Examples would be serving turkeys, stuffing and cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving.

Fish for Good Friday. And, of course, eggs for Easter as well as ham and all the ‘fixins for the holiday meal. This is a program we look to expand in 2025. During Mardi-Gras season, Josh will source shrimp, sausage, and cajun or creole spices. There will be masa, cornbread and dried chilis for a Latino Navidad. Fish, noodles and citrus fruit during the Chinese Lunar New Year. Halal chicken, dates, nuts, and yogurt throughout the month of Ramadan as well as apples and Matzah at Passover. During Latino History Month, we’ll stock tortillas, hominy, plantains and Cotija cheese.

All these specialty items require an extra outlay of funds for AFB but, according to England, “…the upside makes their shopping experience more enjoyable when they see the foods that remind them of home and happier times.”

Personal choice shopping has always been the hallmark of our service to our Island community. Even in this period of rampant inflation, AFB strives to source the freshest, most nutritious produce, bakery items, proteins and dry goods at the most reasonable prices. We are so grateful for your financial support which allows us to purchase the food that our shoppers would choose to serve at their dinner table.

Cynthia Odom was born and raised in Alameda and began volunteering at Alameda Food Bank along with her grandmother back in the 1980’s.

As an adult, Cynthia found herself raising 9 children in a blended family during a time of increasing costs and stagnant wage growth in Alameda. Recognizing the need to stretch her grocery budget during tough economic times, Cynthia turned to Alameda Food Bank, an organization she had long supported. By doing so, she demonstrated her ability to leverage community resources to meet her family’s needs.

“It’s been so wonderful being able to choose the food my family wants each week,” Cynthia said. “Several of my kids have dietary restrictions, but we always find what we need here.” She compares our Island Community Market to a smaller version of Costco—lots of choices with friendly service.

One of Cynthia’s children, a new mother, is navigating the challenges of parenthood with resilience, finding essential support through the baby food and diapers provided by the food bank, which allows her to allocate resources towards other important family needs.

Cynthia knows the power of gratitude and she’s raised her children with that same sense of thankfulness. Seven of her nine children still live on the Island today and she is so proud that several of them are actively volunteering and giving back to the community that has supported them over the years. But, it’s AFB that holds a special place in Cynthia’s heart. “Without the Alameda Food Bank and its wonderful donors, I wouldn’t have known what to do or how to feed my family,” Cynthia said.

It’s your support that is helping families like Cynthia’s weather the tough times life can bring and your gifts do, indeed, change lives every day.