Dated 7.27.2022
Even with lower rents, many parents and individuals who want to feed and nourish their kids, families, and themselves cannot. It’s simply too expensive to buy food, let alone access affordable fresh produce in their own neighborhood.
Since TNDC’s early days, we have provided nourishment through food to TNDC residents. Many buildings’ social workers would directly distribute free food to TNDC residents in partnership with the SF-Marin Food Bank and other food providers.
With donor support and community activism, we were able to create the Tenderloin People’s Garden (TPG) in 2010. For the last 12 years, TNDC has been supplying our neighbors with fresh food and peaceful spaces to connect with nature at TPG and across our buildings’ rooftop gardens and farms.
In 2013, we joined the Tenderloin Healthy Corner Store Coalition, a community outreach component of Healthy Retail SF, to work with community members and corner store owners to bring more fresh produce into the Tenderloin. We have a major update on this program for fall, so make sure to sign up for our eNewsletter on www.tndc.org/join!
Donors like yourself have been essential to our food and wellness work’s sustainability, especially throughout the pandemic. With the addition of Kain Na, the Mission Bay’s first community food hub, which opened in January of this year, we operate 4 food pantries, manage 12 urban farms, and support 8 corner stores in offering nutritious food options across 7 neighborhoods.
Not only is food essential but fresh food is key for people’s health and wellness. When we work with our neighbors to increase access to fresh food in neighborhoods like the Tenderloin and Bayview, where many people of color live, we’re building more equitable neighborhoods.
If you’d like contribute to this effort, please message giving@tndc.org.
Kain Na is the fourth food pantries part of the Food & Nutrition focus area of our Health & Wellness program. By distributing food and offering cooking demonstrations, the Food & Nutrition team increases the supply of nutritious foods in neighborhoods lacking healthy options and fosters a culture of learning around food and cooking.
