While there are still January holidays on the horizon for Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims, today is the 12th day of Christmas — and then the holly-jolly season will be quickly wrapped and done.
But looming end of the winter holidays doesn’t mean that you have to give up the spirit of giving. In fact, why not make it a new year’s resolution to keep donating all year long? Food insecurity, unfortunately, doesn’t stop, and nonprofit organizations tend to see a drop in donations at the beginning of the year.
First and foremost, these organizations need donations in dollars, which they can stretch through bulk purchasing. Second, they need hands-on volunteers. But if you’re cleaning out your pantry or fridge, they also take food products that are sealed and labeled, particularly dry/shelf-stable goods, canned proteins and healthy snacks.
Here’s where you can help:
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley: Volunteers can organize fundraisers or work hands-on to sort and distribute food. Besides cash and food, stock donations are accepted. Call 408-266-8866 or visit shfb.org
Alameda County Community Food Bank: Volunteers are needed to pack produce and load trucks. Besides cash, volunteer time and food, you can also donate cryptocurrency or stock. The Virtual Food Drive lets individuals or organizations see exactly what monetary donations will buy. Call 510-635-3663 or visit accfb.org
Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano: Volunteers can organize fundraisers or work hands-on to box, bag, sort or distribute food. Besides cash and food, stock donations are accepted. Call 855-309-3663 or visit foodbankccs.org
Loaves and Fishes of Contra Costa County: This nonprofit offers hot lunches, available as a sit-down meal or a grab-and-go, to anyone weekdays at its locations in Antioch, Oakley and Walnut Creek and daily in Martinez and Pittsburg. The five dining rooms have food pantries offering free groceries. Its mobile unit also distributes lunches to the public at locations in Antioch, Pittsburg and Bay Point, as well as to nonprofit partners. Volunteers can run food drives, sign up to prepare or serve food, or serve as an ambassador. The organization also offers a 12-week free culinary arts program. Sign up to donate monthly through The Lunch Club. Contact 925-293-4792 or loavesfishescc.org
Loaves & Fishes Family Kitchen: This San Jose-based nonprofit is not related to the similarly named Contra Costa organization. But it also provides hot meals to anyone weekday afternoons at two San Jose locations. Loaves & Fishes also delivers meals to 20 partner organizations and directly to Meals on Wheels clients throughout Santa Clara and San Mateo counties to feed seniors, children and homeless and homebound people. It also offers medically tailored meals to clients with particular health conditions and food service to people living with HIV/AIDS. Its A La Carte food trucks take surplus prepared and packaged food from corporate and university campuses, cafeterias, grocery stores and catered events directly to schools and community locations where people are experiencing food insecurity. Volunteers can work in the garden, pack meals, sort donated goods, help in the kitchen or serve or deliver meals. You can also make one-time or monthly monetary donations. Contact 408-922-9085 or loavesfishes.org
Mercy Brown Bag Program: This longtime group delivers bags of fresh groceries twice a month to some 10,000 low-income seniors in 13 cities in the East Bay. It is headquartered in Oakland and focuses on qualified residents living in Alameda County. Ways to give include direct donations ($50 helps four seniors with groceries), gifts of stocks and holding food drives. Volunteer opportunities include assisting senior shoppers and restocking shelves at the organization’s grocery store, translating materials, packing groceries in the warehouse or delivering bags to senior residences. Contact 510-269-9640 or mercybrownbag.org
Meals on Wheels Contra Costa: This organization helps nutritionally at-risk seniors who live in Contra Costa County by delivering free meals to their doorstep. Eligible individuals for this Meals on Wheels program must be homebound and aged 60 or older, unable to shop for or cook meals and who face challenges due to disability, illness or isolation. The group takes direct donations on a one-time or regularly scheduled basis (quarterly and monthly). People are also welcome to donate their cars. Volunteers can provide administrative support or serve as delivery drivers. Contact 866-669-6697 or mowcontracosta.org
Peninsula Volunteers, Inc.: Each week, this group delivers more than 3,000 healthy meals to mostly homebound seniors and disabled people in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. The program’s eligibility depends on circumstance, not income. The drivers who deliver meals are trained in safety and wellness checks — an additional benefit. Gifts can be made online or by check. Car donations are also welcome. Volunteers can become drivers or meal-packers, or provide support at the organization’s headquarters in Menlo Park (or even remotely). Musicians can also volunteer time. Contact 650-326-0665 or 1pvi.org/mealsonwheels
Hunger at Home: This nonprofit rescues surplus food from local convention centers, hotels and sports stadiums throughout Silicon Valley and distributes them to hungry and homeless individuals. It also shares basic necessities with folks in need. They welcome individual or corporate volunteers and run a weekly drive-through for fresh groceries and prepared meals in San Jose. Visit hungerathome.org
Sacred Heart Community Services: This Santa Clara County nonprofit has anywhere from 600-800 households per day coming in for food and clothing. The organization will take volunteers as young as seventh graders as long as there is an adult chaperone. Visit sacredheartcs.org
Project Open Hand: Serving Oakland and San Francisco, Project Open Hand serves 2,500 nutritious meals and provides 200 bags of healthy groceries to folks battling the illnesses, isolation and health challenges often associated with aging. The organization relies on more than 125 volunteers daily and accept volunteers as young as 15. Visit openhand.org
Peninsula Food Runners: On a mission to reduce food waste and feed families, this nonprofit and its volunteers and donors have diverted more than 4.7 million pounds of food from landfills and delivered nearly 4 million meals in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties since 2013. Additionally, executive director Maria Yap says, in November the group purchased 1,230 Thanksgiving meals for needy neighbors. Also in 2025, the Food Runners used donated funds to support low-income families at two elementary schools in San Bruno and a high school in Daly City, supplying 1,000 meals. Details, donations: peninsulafoodrunners.org
HOPE Collaborative: In the East Bay, this group brings together community organizations, public agencies and volunteers with the goal of maintaining a healthy, vibrant Oakland. Its Leftover Food Transformation (LEFT) Project. in existence since 2020, recovers food from grocery stores, farmers markets and other food providers that might otherwise go to waste. The Sunday Harvest Market is the weekly food distribution site. Hours are 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. at 3247 San Pablo Ave. For more information and volunteer opportunities, go to hopecollaborative.net/food-resources.html
The Celebration Nation Foundation at Overfelt High School operates on every second Saturday throughout the year, but is adding a day of operation this December, when it’ll also provide food on the fourth Saturday (two days after Christmas). Free for all East Side San Jose residents, folks can sign up for pick up or order home delivery, as the foundation partners with DoorDash. Founded in San Jose in 2020, the Celebration Nation Foundation is dedicated to “serving, educating, and empowering the Indigenous Latino community across California,” according to its website. The organization accept donations and volunteers. Open every second Saturday throughout the year, and the fourth Saturday this December (Dec. 27), from 10 a.m. to noon at Overfelt High School, 1835 Cunningham Ave. in San Jose; celebration-nation.org
Emeryville Citizens Assistance Program serves 300 families a day, six days a week, providing healthy fruits, vegetables, meats, canned goods, bread, packaged foods and other food products to families in need. The program was started 30 years ago and calls itself the only nonprofit agency serving primarily Emeryville low-income residents. The volunteer-run organization also accepts donations. Thy ask everyone brings their own boxes and bags when picking up food. Open noon-4 p.m. Monday through Saturday at 3610 San Pablo Ave. in Emeryville; ecapprogram.org
Freedge: The concept was introduced in 2014 at UC Davis when a group of graduate students led by Ernst Oehninger was studying ways to prevent food waste. Operating under the university’s Food Loss and Waste Collaborative, the group introduced “the freedge,” public refrigerators used to share food at a neighborhood level. The idea spread, and now the organization’s database lists hundreds all over the globe. The website offers tips on starting a freedge, including how to get permits and follow local health and food safety laws. For more information, visit freedge.org
Community Kitchens and Town Fridges: This organization sprang out of the COVID pandemic, when Rick Mitchell and Maria Alderete, the owners of Luka’s Taproom in Oakland, were looking for a way to keep their staff employed. In 2020, the couple launched Community Kitchens, a nonprofit that took donations to prepare meals for the homeless. Since then, Luka’s has gone out of business, but Community Kitchens lives on, offering culinary job training and collaborating with chefs and community-based food-distribution partners to fight food insecurity as they prepare 4,000 delicious and nutritious meals a week at its central kitchen, where meals are served there 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays. Other prepared meals are distributed through nonprofits or are placed in Town Fridges, community fridges located around Oakland and Berkeley. You can donate, or sign up to be a kitchen volunteer or home chef at ckoakland.org
Martha’s Kitchen and Santa Clara County fridges: The county and Joint Venture Silicon Valley have collaborated with the nonprofit Martha’s Kitchen and housing partners for this project. Joint Venture’s Food Recovery Initiative installed four fridges at affordable housing sites in San Jose and Palo Alto, and Martha’s Kitchen stocks them with fresh produce, shelf-stable groceries and ready-to-eat meals. Donate to or volunteer with Martha’s Kitchen at marthas-kitchen.org
Dig Deep Farms: This urban farm covers 53 acres in the Newark-Fremont area, using regenerative practices to grow tasty, nutrient-rich produce. The Black-led, BIPOC farming operation works with the Alameda County Community Food Bank to distribute what they grow throughout the county, boosting public health and economic opportunities along the way. The farm is a social enterprise by Black Ag Tech, which works to create opportunities for underserved farmers, especially Black farmers, by providing technical assistance, training and farmer incubator programs. Contact blackagtech.org/digdeepfarms
Alameda Backyard Growers: This network of Alameda-based gardeners grows food and donates extras to the Alameda Food Bank. The volunteer-run organization hosts monthly educational meetings. One of its initiatives, called Project Pick, collects extra fruit from local fruit trees and donates it to the food bank. People can harvest their own trees, or volunteers can pick fruit, too, if owners are unable to do so themselves. This year, 2025, was the organization’s best ever, with 14,661 pounds of fruit collected and distributed so far, nearly doubled from the previous year, according to its website: alamedabackyardgrowers.org
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