Students hopped into grocery carts at a Pleasanton Safeway Friday morning, all in an effort to fight hunger and deliver beans, peanut butter, pasta and more nations to seven food banks throughout the Bay Area.
Claire O'Connor, student body president at Piedmont High School, dropped an "Help Us End the Hunger" bag into a donation barrel - from a sitting position inside a cart - to "give back to the community." She was surrounded by friends blowing their trombones and french horns from inside the store to promote the annual pre-Thanksgiving fundraiser.
All the help is sorely needed, said Michael Altfest, spokesman for the Alameda Community Food Bank.
"There's a lot more working families coming to food banks," he said. "The cost of living has skyrocketed in the Bay Area."
The food drive, a monthlong partnership between the food banks, Safeway and NBC Bay Area, is taking place at 155 Safeway locations throughout the Bay Area. The big day to donate is on Saturday. To make the donation process easier, a specially produced shopping bag filled with items that food banks need the most will be available for $10 at all local Safeway stores. Items include pasta and sauce, canned vegetables and important protein items like peanut butter and canned tuna.
For the last five years, NBC Bay Area has partnered with Safeway to help stock the shelves of local food banks. Last year, the food drive collected more than 134,000 bags at Safeway Stores across the Bay Area, amounting to over 1.6 million pounds of food for those in need.
