Jonathan Block

I wake up and drive to San Francisco to pick up Jon C. We head towards the east side of San Francisco. We drive through hilly streets until the incline flattens out and we reach The San Francisco Food Bank. We follow signs and park next to other cars where families and groups are walking towards a loading dock. This Costco-sized building is a critical link in the distribution of needed food to the impoverished people of the city.

We step inside and see a giant inside area with fork lifts, giant crates of assorted fruits and vegetables, giant racks full of boxed goods and tapestries branded with San Francisco Food Bank logos. We turn a corner, sign in and wait for instruction. A dozen people are my age. The rest, perhaps 50, are children between the ages of 8 and 16. An organizer comes to notify us that someone seems to have kicked the bathroom stall. The pipe burst and they spend the next 30 minutes trying to fix the flooding.

After the delay, we’re ready to break into groups. We head back out into the main corridor, and the groups are each given their tasks. We’re in the “individuals” group and we will be working on the bagging and boxing of rice. We cross the building and head into a room in the back with 4 tables which each have the same stuff on them. In the back of the room are two giant canvas bags of rice - as big as some small cars. Each is about 6 feet wide, 6 feet deep, and 6 feet high. I’m told that in total, they weigh 2,400 lbs.

The organizer of the rice room tells us how rice boxing works. Each table is a workstation with a mini supply chain. Someone will keep a medium side pail of rice reasonably full. We’ll use a coffee cup to scoop 1 lb. of rice into a small bag. That gets passed down the supply chain to the sealer. The person who does the sealing will operate a small machine which resembles a curling iron to melt the bag of rice shut. I’m surprised that it only takes 1 second to seal it. The sealed rice bag then receives a sticker denoting “1 lb. White Rice Boxed at San Francisco Food Bank”. Finally, the bag is added to a box. 15 bags per box.

I meet a handful of other volunteers. One group that was organized to volunteer was called “Tech Geeks”. I find someone to talk about web programming with. I meet an Australian girl who tells me about home. I meet a mother and her 8 year old son who tell me about their fixerupper house and that the father was stuck home working on it. I ask the son later what’s wrong with the house. He replies “everything”.

After 3 hours and 1 ten minute break, we’re finished. The giant canvas bags are empty and a fork lift is loaded with stacks of boxed rice. I think another fork lift has already taken an entire pallete of boxed rice from the room, but I am not sure. Everyone feels good and we all leave in a good mood. To celebrate in triumph, Jon and I pose for fork lift photos.

Later, we get Tai food. I get rice on the side.