As the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc across San Diego’s most diverse neighborhoods, some nonprofits organizations are altering their missions to provide meals to struggling families.
Several organizations have taken on a weekly food distribution at the Joe & Vi Jacobs Center in addition to their regular operations, while others have completely pivoted to food distribution.
The nonprofit organizers who launched the effort in April imagined it would be a temporary project possibly lasting a couple months, yet the community’s need has kept the distribution running for almost a year.
And organizers don’t see it ending anytime soon.
On Tuesday afternoon a line of cars waiting for groceries wrapped around the outside of the Jacobs center’s parking lot and extended into a nearby shopping center. It slowed traffic on busy Euclid Avenue to a crawl.
The line of people who walked up rather than drive also stretched down the block.
With her hands on a small folding shopping cart, 79-year-old Rosa Booker was among those waiting in line at the food distribution site Tuesday afternoon.
She arrived an hour early to make sure she got groceries, she said, because sometimes the food runs out. Booker, a retired hotel worker living on a fixed income, relies on the distribution to eat and feed older neighbors who barely have enough money for groceries and whose families can’t help much because many are unemployed, she said.
“Gracias a dios que nos ayudan,” she said, thanking God the organizations are helping residents.
The distribution is a collaboration between I Am My Brother’s Keeper Community Development Corporation, Paving Great Futures, Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation, and Diamonds Unite Charity.
Its organizers estimate they distribute 600 to 800 meals every week at the Lincoln Park site.
COVID is ravaging some southeast San Diego communities. There are at least 13,598 COVID-19 cases in the two ZIP codes that include much of Encanto, Skyline and Lincoln Park neighborhoods. Nearly 57 percent of the residents in those ZIP codes are Latino, 18 percent are Black, 14 percent are Asian and 7 percent are White, according to 2010 Census data.
Volunteer Imran Hasan distributes diapers to families in need during a nonprofit food distribution event on Tuesday, March 2, 2021 in San Diego, CA.
(Jarrod Valliere / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Its leaders say they had to pivot and dedicate resources from other programs to food distribution because it’s needed. Many residents lost their jobs during the pandemic, they said.
Although some businesses have reopened, many people still are struggling to keep up with bills. Even with new vaccine distributions, it will be a long time before people are back on their feet, organizers said.
“We are filling the gap,” said Abdul Waliullah “Hugh” Muhammad, CEO of I Am My Brother’s Keeper CDC. “We look at this as more than just a distribution of food, because it allows people to use their income to pay bills, and this food helps them not spend on groceries.”
I Am My Brothers Keeper usually provides career training to people interested in working in the field of green energy. It also works in development and affordable housing. It pivoted from its environmental work last year to run the food distribution.
Muhammad said he doesn’t believe it will be difficult for the organization to jump back to its environmental work, and in the meantime other groups are filling that gap. He said the need to continue its environmental literacy and workforce training will still be there long after the food distribution is done.
“Because the need to assist our young people is so great within our community in districts 4 and 8, I think we will be able to come back.... It is something that we naturally do,” he said.
Waliyyah Muhammad, who is his wife and a volunteer, ran back and forth Tuesday making sure the grocery bags were prepared for residents. She said food distribution keeps the organization busy, because there is a high demand. Nearly 40 volunteers were separating produce, fruits, meat and dried goods into plastic bags.
Armand King, COO of Paving Great Futures carries grocery bags for families in need on Tuesday, March 2, 2021 in San Diego, CA.
(Jarrod Valliere / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Paving Great Futures COO Armand King said organizers foresee continuing food distribution for another year, given the pandemic’s impact on the Southeast area, which already was dealing with food insecurity.
“It’s going to be a process of getting people back on their feet,” King said.
Paving Great Futures still performs its main mission, which is to provide work training and entrepreneur mentorship programs to young people who were formerly incarcerated or who are at risk of becoming involved in the justice system. King said some of the nonprofit’s clients are volunteering at the distribution instead of doing things that would get them into trouble.
Marcus Spearman, a Paving Great Futures client, volunteered Tuesday. Spearman, 22, currently lives in sober living housing and is receiving mentorship from the organization’s leaders.
“It was nice helping out the people who need help, because I know that if I was in that situation I would just steal food,” Spearman said.
Christie Marcella, executive director of the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation, said collaborations with other nonprofit groups have been crucial to reaching more residents. The hope is that even when the pandemic is under control, the nonprofits will continue working together during the recovery period.
“Southeastern San Diego has always been resilient, and the organizations that are doing this are doing this for members of the community,” Marcella said. “It’s not for glory; it’s to make sure that these families have food.”
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Nonprofits adjust mission to feed hundreds in southeastern San Diego during COVID - The San Diego Union-Tribune
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