UNION CITY — Just before 11:30 Tuesday morning, a line of cars wrapped around the outside of St. Anne’s Catholic Church spilled onto Dyer Street, as people waited to pick up a few bags of free groceries.
The line wended through the church parking lot, before volunteers donning masks and gloves placed the goods in the back seat of each car.
The large queue underscores the heavy demand for assistance amid an unprecedented shelter-in-place order, triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has shut down vast swaths of the American economy, forced millions into unemployment, and made it hard for many people to simply put food on their tables.
“If I only had work, I would donate, but I don’t have anything to give, so I am here to take,” Mee Mabuyo of Union City said after going through the line.
Mabuyo said she comes twice a week to St. Anne’s where a group of local politicians and about 30 volunteers from the area have been setting up shop to distribute food from the Alameda County Food Bank, as well as sandwiches the group buys from a local shop to give away.
“It’s a lot of blessings,” Mabuyo said of the service.
Her household of five has seen its monthly income cut in half, as she was furloughed from her position as an accounting manager for a hotel on March 20. She also shares some of the groceries she gets with extended family members who cannot drive.
The services at St. Anne’s is just one of several similar programs running in the small East Bay city, all of which are sorely needed as people come by the hundreds each day to get the basics, organizers say.
“The fact is there is no money to go buy the groceries,” Jaime Jamarillo, the director of Centro de Servicios, the oldest nonprofit in Union City said.
Centro is another outpost providing free emergency food sourced from food banks, donations, and local operators like Daily Bowl, which recovers excess food from stores and markets for distribution.
Jamarillo said the food is offered every weekday to people outside its main distribution center at 33750 6th St., and the demand is high.
“People are unemployed, they’ve been laid off…that’s what we see here,” he said Tuesday.
For some people, service like the one at St. Anne’s offer a feeling of safety.
Sonia Singh, of Fremont, came to pick up a couple of bags of bread, vegetables, juice, tortillas, and fruits at the church with her 5-year-old son Vihaan, because she doesn’t feel as safe going to grocery stores.
“When I go into a store, I feel more like I will catch the virus over there,” she said, because “some people are a little closer, they are not wearing masks, but this area is very safe
Councilmembers Gary Singh, Jaime Patiño and Pat Gacoscos also are chipping in their own cash to help buy sandwiches from Mr. Pickle’s to hand out to folks at the church, and are doing it because the need is growing, they say.
The city has been updating its website with information about where people in need can find food, like at the Ruggieri Senior Center, as well as issuing updates via social media and email newsletters, and informational mailers that went out to over 20,000 homes.
“As the COVID-19 pandemic puts increasing strain on our community, the city of Union City is committed to providing a variety of resources to those in need,” a city statement said. “We urge the community to check our website for daily updates and local information: www.UnionCity.org/Coronavirus. Information is also streamed on UCTV Local Channel 15.”
The New Haven Unified School District is also distributing “Grab and Go” breakfasts and lunches for all students at four different school sites twice each week. Over 5,000 of the district’s students, or about 45 percent, were eligible for free and reduced-price lunches last year.
Organizers say they’re trying to address the immediate needs of the community, as other assistance programs, like unemployment or state and federal infusions for employers can take time to trickle down.
Jamarillo, the director of Centro, said the $1,200 federal stimulus checks that have been arriving recently are helpful, but only a “one-time deal” for people who have an ongoing need.
Just a few grocery trips for a family and then the “money runs out,” he said. “Maybe the $1,200 should be monthly until we open the country again. It’s hard to say. ”
In the meantime, organizers and volunteers say they’re proud to help, because it will take a community effort to get through the pandemic.
“In this darkness that is caused by this pandemic, this becomes a beacon of light,” Manny Bernal, a volunteer with the St. Anne’s Council chapter of the Knights of Columbus said of the various assistance programs
“Each individual is like a light, and when we get united, it becomes a bright light in the darkness, that’s what we feel,” he said.
“Everybody’s excited to help,” Patiño said while finishing up handing out bags of groceries at the church on Tuesday.
“Luckily we’re in a situation where we’re able to help others in need,” he said.
“It’s just a shame there are so many people who need it.”
