Communty
WHY?
A report on hunger by the Williams Institute, found that more than one in four LGBTQ adults could not afford to feed themselves or their families at least once in the past year. By comparison, only one in six heterosexual adults reported a similar crisis.
Certain subgroups in the LGBTQ community are particularly vulnerable to food insecurity, including people of color, transgender individuals, women, bisexuals, low income individuals, younger people, seniors, and those who have children in the home. Experts say LGBTQ teenagers, who are not covered in this report, are also at a higher risk of going without food, especially if they are low income or unhoused. We experience
the food insecurity needs in our community throughout the year here in Oakland due to the high cost of living in the Bay Area.
HOW DOes IT WORK?
We are committed to offering access to our food pantry for individuals who are without food, in a dignified manner. All one has to do is sign-in and they are allowed access to our pantry. We only ask that individuals consider others when picking out food from the pantry. Taking others into consideration will allow us to help more people. We do not have a large pantry that allows larger amounts of food to be taken, although we do make exceptions for families. If you would like to use the food pantry service, please contact Donte Washington at donte@oaklandlgbtqcenter.org
or call 510-882-2286 . You can also drop-in between 1pm-5pm, Monday thru Friday to shop.
How can I help?
1. You can help by joining our pantry donor club and purchasing food items similar to those shown in the pictures on this page.
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2. You can purchase food from Amazon and have items shipped to our mailing address
Oakland LGBTQ Center
490 Lakepark Ave. #10530
Oakland, California 94610-8019
3. You can also schedule a time to drop off food by emailing Donte Washington at donte@oaklandlgbtqcenter.org
or call 510-882-2286 between 1pm-5pm.
4. We do not except donations of food that need refrigeration or loaves of bread. Please only donate non-perishable food items and food with a longer shelf-life. Please do not donate food with expired shelf-life dates.
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We also have pantry volunteer opportunities for people to help pick up food on our behalf from Alameda County Food Bank and other places, to help stock and maintain our pantry shelves. If you would like to volunteer, please reach out to Donte at the contact info above. For other volunteer opportunities contact our recruitment partner TurnOut.org.
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