When the federal government said it would suspend Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program payments for November as part of its shutdown, San Francisco officials — together with a wealthy nonprofit foundation — turned to the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank for assistance getting emergency food benefits to nearly 112,000 city residents.
Founded in 1987, the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank is the largest distributor of food to low-income people in San Francisco and Marin Counties, serving 36,000 households each week, and was thus in a position to help connect people with the funds officials wanted them to receive.
“We were proud to be part of this public-private partnership,” said Tanis Crosby, its executive director. “We’re so grateful that individuals who were impacted by this were able to access the immediate support of the emergency grocery-card program.”…