The Bay Area’s Hunger Problem

By Soumya Karlamangla

SAN MATEO — Felipe Ruiz Gonzalez pulled into the parking lot and unlocked his trunk, a familiar ritual of the past 16 months.

He watched in the rearview window Monday morning as masked volunteers began to load up his car with groceries.

Cartons of eggs. A loaf of bread. Fresh herbs. A box of squash and peppers. Salami. A gallon of milk. Cans of beans.

Early in the pandemic, Gonzalez, 66, lost his job at a restaurant and his wife lost hers at a department store. The couple moved out of their $1,100-per-month apartment and into an R.V.

As they struggled to make ends meet, they began coming here to the Samaritan House, a nonprofit organization, to pick up groceries once a week.

Gonzalez, who moved to the U.S. from Peru in 2019, handed me a worn piece of paper listing the dates he has received food from the organization — yesterday was his 58th visit. He hopes to pay them back someday.

“We didn’t know how we could live without jobs and money,” Gonzalez told me. “We tell other families about this place.”

The economic toll of the pandemic has left thousands of Californians without enough food on the table.

The Bay Area may be home to Silicon Valley and some of the richest people in the country, but its income inequality ranks among the worst in the nation. Of the 10 California counties with the biggest growth in food stamp enrollment over the past 18 months, seven were in the Bay Area.

“The underlying level of need was always much greater than people realized,” Bart Charlow, the chief executive of Samaritan House, told me. “Any hike in the cost of anything just pushes them over the edge. Covid pushed a hell of a lot of people over the edge.”

Living in San Mateo County is so expensive that the federal government considers a family of four making as much as $146,350 per year low income. That threshold in New York City and Los Angeles County is far lower, at approximately $95,000.

While food banks nationwide distributed roughly 50 percent more food in 2020 compared with 2019, the rise has been much sharper in the Bay Area.

At Samaritan House, the number of meals delivered has increased by around 80 percent. At Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, a food bank that serves San Mateo and neighboring Santa Clara counties, their clientele has doubled in the past 18 months.

“This is the most people we have ever served by a very long shot,” said Tracy Weatherby, Second Harvest’s vice president of strategy and marketing. “This need is not likely to go down anytime soon.”

Weatherby said she thought the pandemic had helped normalize receiving food assistance.

“There were a lot of people prepandemic who needed our services but may have been concerned about the stigma,” she said. “We think what has happened is a lot of the people who utilized our food during the pandemic are people who probably need our assistance on an ongoing basis.”

Earlier this month, Gonzalez began a new job as a delivery driver. But he was hired for only 28 hours a week, so is looking for additional work.

Until then, he will be back at Samaritan House next week.

For more:

• Hunger isn’t just an American problem. An estimated 270 million people worldwide are expected to face potentially life-threatening food shortages this year, compared with 150 million before the pandemic.

• Some restaurants began feeding the hungry as an emergency measure in the pandemic’s early days. Now the practice could help keep their kitchens running.

If you read one story, make it this

John F. Kennedy Drive, the broad boulevard that cuts through Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, was closed to cars during the pandemic, transforming it into a pedestrian-friendly paradise. Over the weekend, I saw parents running with strollers, children learning how to bike and people dancing in roller skates in the middle of the roadway.

But the future of the road is up in the air. While parkgoers want cars permanently banned, the de Young Museum, located inside the park, worries that the closure will hamper its attempts to regain visitors.

As my colleague Adam Nagourney writes, “This six-lane road has become a flash point, pitting two historically influential constituencies — cultural institutions and park enthusiasts — against each other in a divisive debate about public space, the arts and the priorities of a city rethinking its future after the pandemic.”

The rest of the news

California

• Toxic smoke: The smoke from wildfires across western Canada, Oregon and California has traveled as far as Iowa, Minnesota and even New York City. Research suggests that the smoke may grow more toxic as it ages.

• Heat wave: Washington, western Oregon and parts of Northern California will be under an excessive heat watch this week, with triple-digit temperatures amid already dry conditions.

• Water theft: California’s desert has increasingly become a hotbed for thieves stealing water, CalMatters reports.

• Wildfires and tourism: Between pervasive smoke and closed trails, wildfires are hurting tourism in the American West.

• Real estate: What can $4.3 million get you in California? Here’s a look at a 1938 chalet-style house in Orinda, a Victorian house in St. Helena and a five-bedroom home in Cardiff-by-the-Sea.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

• Low vaccination rates: Just 43 percent of eligible Tulare County residents are vaccinated against Covid-19, according to The Fresno Bee, and some communities within the county — called “vaccination deserts” — have even lower rates. Community advocates blame distrust and misinformation.

• Charges against L.A.P.D. officer: The California attorney general’s office filed manslaughter and assault charges against Salvador Sanchez, a former Los Angeles police officer. Sanchez was off duty when he fatally shot a disabled man in a Costco in Corona in 2019.

• L.A.P.D. explosion aftermath: Since the Los Angeles Police Department accidentally blew up a residential street in South Los Angeles a month ago, displaced families have been struggling, The Los Angeles Times reports.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

• Mendocino: Despite being located along several waterways, forested Mendocino has relied on wells for its water supply for the past century. But the drought crippling the West is drying up the tourist town’s aquifers, The Guardian reports.

• J.&J. supplement: By the end of the week, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital will provide a supplemental vaccine dose for city residents who have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, according to ABC 7.

What we’re eating

This colorful jumble of veggies and mozzarella has everything you’ve ever wanted in a pasta salad.

Where we’re traveling

Today’s California travel tip comes from Hilary Steinman, a reader who lives in Lafayette. Hilary writes:

My husband and I recently visited Old Towne Orange, about 40 minutes south of downtown Los Angeles. We ate delicious food at Gabbi’s Mexican Kitchen (which we discovered is on the California Michelin Guide!), explored the Hilbert Museum of California Art, and walked around the quaint downtown area that surrounds Chapman University. Orange is like a time capsule to Southern California of the 1950s and 1960s with its charming historic homes, and small town vibe. It was refreshing to get out of our car and enjoy this adorable community on foot.

Tell us

I’m looking for the weirdest or most creative ways that businesses, health care workers and local governments are encouraging people to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. Email me at CAtoday@nytimes.com with any tips.

And before you go, some good news

The Perseid meteor shower, considered one of the best of the year, is coming to a night sky near you.

The best time to view the shower, which typically peaks in mid-August, will be between 11 p.m. Wednesday and 3 a.m. Thursday, according to the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland. The moon will set early that night so the skies will be extra dark, ideal conditions for laying out a blanket and looking up at the stars.