Feeding San Diego: Hunger on the rise due to COVID-19

For anyone interested in a truly hands-on volunteering experience Feeding San Diego has always been an excellent option. You can go to their facility in the Sorrento Valley area on a Saturday morning and for a couple hours sort tomatoes, potatoes, peaches, and other items that will be eventually be delivered to our community’s most vulnerable families.

Our own Dharma School and Sangha Teens organizations have participated on some of those volunteer Saturdays in the past. In June of last year our temple group had 15 individuals preparing backpacks with various toiletries.

“At the end of volunteering I felt proud of what we had done to help the community,” commented Andrea Covarrubias, one of the Sangha Teens volunteer who participated in that event. “When I think about it now, I think about how the backpack could have brought a sense of relief or even joy as they no longer have to worry about those items.”   

That was the way it worked before the COVID-19 pandemic. Nowadays, because of the restrictions that have become so common,  this organization has had go on without the volunteers that would show up every week. Even so, their staff has had to continue operations and adjust to a higher demand. Before the pandemic Feeding San Diego was serving more than 63,000 children, families and seniors every week. Now, demand has grown almost 300%.

The Buddhist Temple of San Diego Board of Directors recently discussed the possibility of helping Feeding San Diego in some way. Given the current health directives it would not be feasible for our temple to run a food drive, but there’s a way we can all help out. Please visit the Feeding San Diego website at https://tinyurl.com/yczw7hzo and donate to their COVID-19 Response Fund. You can enter your credit card information into this secure website and donate any amount directly to them. Due to Feeding San Diego’s operating efficiency and community partnerships, every dollar donated helps provide four meals.

 “It is important right now to help Feeding San Diego because many more people need help than before,” Andrea added. “As people lose their jobs they still need to put food on the table, and that is where Feeding San Diego comes in.”

Your generosity will help ensure that Feeding San Diego can continue to meet the ongoing and evolving needs of our community during the COVID-19 outbreak.

In Gassho,

Dana Group