Thanksgiving is right around the corner and the Alameda County Community Food Bank has nearly tripled their distribution to local agencies in order to meet the needs of their hungry clients this holiday season.

“November is traditionally the highest call volume for our emergency food helpline, and we make hundreds of more referrals during this time,” said Michael Altfest, communications manager at the Alameda County Community Food Bank.

Last year in Alameda County, 42 percent of low-income adults lacked consistent access to an adequate diet, according to UCLA’s California Healthy Interview Survey.

The food bank’s goal is to give away 11 million meals to families during the holiday season.  They are striving to raise $4.5 million dollars in financial contributions and 800,000 pounds of food during fall and winter seasons.

These donations not only assist clients during the holiday season, but kick-start the following year with a strong foundation to work from, states Altfest.

“Food bank fundraising tends to ebb and flow against the economy, so to speak, and when times are bad and the economy is not doing so well, people tend to think about food banks more often,” he said.

The problem, he explains, is this season they  have not experienced a growth in support, because of the recovering economy.  Most of the clients of the county’s food banks whom require assistance are children, senior citizens living on fixed incomes, and low-income families.

Even though the economy is now on the upswing and jobs are returning, the Alameda County Community Food Bank is seeing a large increase in food program agencies, according to Altfest.

He attributes the increase in demand to clients who are taking lower paid jobs with less hours and benefits, but that may not be the only problem.

“We’ve got a number of families, who are often working, bring in paychecks and it’s still not enough to feed their families,” he said.

L.J. Jennings, senior pastor of Kingdom Builders Christian Fellowship in Oakland and alma mater of CSU East Bay, explains that his fellowship has been picking up more food from the community bank recently due to budget cuts to the CalFresh Benefit program, formerly known as food stamps.

In Hayward, 12.7 percent of the community live under the poverty line, according to city data website.  Many of the local residents will have an increased need for food assistance during the winter months, said Altfest.

The South Hayward Parish’s Emergency Food Program has worked with the Alameda County Food Bank for over 10 years, and more food items will be needed every year, explains Ralph Morales, program director for the Emergency Food Program at the South Hayward Parish.

Last year, the food program served 70 households a day, four days a week, for 51 weeks out of the year.  The parish considers a typical household as one to 13 people living together.

“Our volunteers go and pick up food, canned goods and some other items,” explains Morales.

“Once a week the [Alameda County Food Bank] delivers produce,” said Morales. “Today we received a ton of potatoes, a ton of onions, 1,200 lbs of oranges, and 1,300lbs of watermelon.”

Morales says that no matter how much they receive from the food bank, all of the produce will be given away by the weekend.

The Alameda County Food Bank requests canned proteins and says they are always in need for contributions of meat because they are a “cornerstone” of people’s diets.

“What we hope is that people will put some thought into what they are donating, not just pulling what is expired from their shelves,” explains Altfest.  “We want them to donate things they would like to eat themselves.”

This weekend the Alameda County Food Bank will receive 700 hams from Safeway, and explains that although Thanksgiving is around the corner, they do not have enough turkeys for everyone. Typically, they purchase chickens because of their cheaper price and smaller size.

“We want to make sure they have a bird,” he said.

Most donations to the community food bank don’t come from businesses, but from the citizens of Alameda County, according to Altfest.

In Hayward, donation facilities can be found at both Safeway’s, all three Mi Pueblo stores, Panera Bread at Southland Mall, Ryder’s Truck Rental, and on campus at the CSU East Bay Honors Program located in the Student Services building.

The Alameda County Community Food Bank accepts food donations and financial contributions in many locations around the county and information for this can be found on their website.