One in six Southern Nevadans, including more than 113,000 children, are unsure where their next meal will come from. That uncertainty places real strain on families, making everyday life harder than it should be. No one should have to live that way, yet many do because of circumstances beyond their control.
When Rachel Negro-Henderson started shopping at Aldi regularly during the pandemic a change her family made when her husband lost his income as a crew coach she'd sometimes have awkward run-ins with acquaintances. "People would not want to talk about why they were here, like it was a mistake," the healthcare administrator said. "They just stumbled into a grocery store because they needed a tomato." But after just a few years, those interactions have changed.
I worked at a school; some kids got free lunch, and some bought their lunches. The kids were going on an all-day field trip. Just before we called the classes down to get on the buses, I asked one of the organizers (who worked in the district) where the lunches were. (I was expecting at least a few brown bagged lunches for the kids who get free lunch or the kids who always buy lunches). The organizer said that the kids should already have their lunchboxes in their backpacks.
Zen'Yari Winters, who works at a pet shop in East Memphis, Tennessee, faces a 20-minute commute that often takes three hours due to the unreliability of the bus system. She has to navigate a transit desert where the only full-service grocer closed in 2025, forcing her to buy groceries online to avoid long waits or expensive Uber rides.
"It looks like a ton of people just standing around looking at me and an AD on the other side of the room reading from the script. Then I'm responding as if it's a very intense emergency."
We're meant to help people in an emergency, but what's changed is now people are in emergency every single month because the income they have is nowhere near covering the actual costs that it would take to live their life. Food banks were intended to bridge a gap only, but the organization says food insecurity continues to grow in the city.
Dining Out For Life Bay Area is benefitting both San Francisco AIDS Foundation and Project Open Hand, two powerhouses working to end HIV and feed our most vulnerable neighbors with lovingly-prepared meals. Together, they are serving thousands of people across the Bay Area.
SNAP is not only just food being put on the table. It's stability for the future. When Steven Gray's family first received their monthly EBT allowance, the trips to Costco were life-saving. Gray said that when he was growing up in South Brooklyn and struggling with food insecurity, running out of funds often meant scrambling to make money with their siblings to help their parents afford groceries.
People need access to fresh food. Food is a critical part of a healthy community. Backing a grocery store is personal: As a high school student employed by Kroger, he had to take the bus or drive from his low-income neighborhood to get to work.
The Local Food Purchase Assistance Program, known in California as Farms Together, pays farmers fair market prices to supply fresh foods directly to local food banks. Since the program launched in January 2024, it has supported 800 farms statewide and fed more than 2 million Californians. It's estimated that LFPA has brought more than $88 million to the California economy, supporting small and mid-size farmers.
Tickets are on sale for the 15th annual Chefs of Compassion: Cooking for a Cause gala on March 27. The fundraiser benefits West Valley Community Services (WVCS), a nonprofit whose programs support low-income and homeless individuals and families in Cupertino, Los Gatos, Saratoga and West San Jose. The evening features top Bay Area chefs competing to create a multi-course meal using ingredients found in the WVCS pantry, where clients receive food. A panel of professional judges chooses the winner; there's also a people's choice award.
The marketing stunt has been launched by Polymarket, a company that has made a name for itself by letting people bet on real-life occurrences, like celebrity news and political events. The Polymarket grocery is scheduled to open on February 12, with passersby able to walk in and pick up groceries without shelling out cash. The idea is that a fully-stocked market won't require any purchase from New Yorkers to access groceries inside the store.
Former San Francisco 49ers and San Jose State quarterback Jeff Garcia returned to his former downtown San Jose stomping grounds Thursday night for an NFL alumni event benefitting two Bay Area nonprofits fighting food insecurity - San Jose's Hunger at Home and San Francisco-based The City Eats.
On Sunday, Zoitas told Fortune, he was at the Knicks game and met some people from the predictions marketplace Kalshi, who offered to pay for an event where shoppers could receive $50 each in free groceries between noon and 3:00 pm. Fortune calculated that, if all 300 or so people in line spent this full allotment, it could cost Kalshi up to $150,000 in groceries.
Tickets are on sale for the 15th annual Chefs of Compassion: Cooking for a Cause gala on March 27. The fundraiser benefits West Valley Community Services (WVCS), a nonprofit whose programs support low-income and homeless individuals and families in Cupertino, Los Gatos, Saratoga and West San Jose. The evening features top Bay Area chefs competing to create a multi-course meal using ingredients found in the WVCS pantry, where clients receive food. A panel of professional judges chooses the winner; there's also a people's choice award.
As the Department of Homeland Security deploys thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis, residents are fighting back - but not just in the streets. In the wake of Renee Good and Alex Pretti's killings by federal immigration agents, immigrants and citizens alike in Minnesota are afraid to leave their homes. Many have seen their family members taken away, resulting in not only the loss of a loved one, but also the loss of their employment and income,
I think that whenever we have the opportunity to volunteer, we should always take it up, Vijay said. Also, I'm here with my friends, so it's a fun chance to do something nice.
Chefs take surplus food ingredients from the charity's depot next door and turn them into meals. These are then cooked, chilled, packed into boxes and distributed across to the organisations the charity supports. More than 1,200 organisations who are feeding people experiencing food insecurity and food poverty benefit from the work of The Felix Project. Its initial aim was to produce 100,000 meals to feed local families and children throughout the summer holidays, but five years on and it continues to support those in need.
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground.
Now I have no work, I can't provide for my family, he told Al Jazeera, adding that he used to work in the infrastructure and farming sectors. I used to work with an axe to open water channels between the trees, plough the soil around them, spray pesticides, and plant tomatoes and cucumbers. I used to work from 7am to 4pm for 4050 shekels [$13-$15] per day.
The Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA) - a U.S. Department of Agriculture initiative started in 2021 during the pandemic - provided $1 billion annually to help food banks, schools and nonprofits nationwide purchase produce from farmers. Unlike surplus or blemished produce donated to food banks from wholesale distributors, large farms and grocery stores, the federal program provided low-income families with fresh, even organic, fruits and vegetables.
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