WITH FOOD BENEFITS having lapsed Saturday amid the federal government shutdown, local leaders and food banks in San Francisco have been raising awareness of the need for emergency food assistance and volunteers.

State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, visited one of San Francisco-Marin Food Bank’s distribution centers Friday to show his support by helping pack boxes of produce. San Francisco-Marin Food Bank serves more than 53,000 households weekly in San Francisco and Marin counties.

“We have a problem where people are not going to have enough food and that we need to support the food banks,” Wiener said in an interview. “We are responding to Trump and the Republicans in their crusade to destroy food benefits.”

State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, packages food at San Francisco Marin Food Bank in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, Oct. 31, 2025. Wiener and the food bank are trying to highlight the need for emergency food aid amid the federal government shutdown. (Alise Maripuu/Bay City News)

With the federal government shutdown lasting for nearly a month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture under President Donald Trump announced last week that it would not roll out food stamps for the month of November.

USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins has said on social media that the department no longer has the funding to send out payments for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which provides food assistance for millions of low-income Americans. CalFresh is California’s version of SNAP.

However, state leaders including Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta say that USDA is withholding billions in contingency funding that could be used to cover a portion of SNAP payments for November. 

Two federal district judges on Friday — one in Rhode Island and one in Massachusetts — made rulings stating that the Trump administration must use the contingency funds it has available to continue supporting SNAP payments.

“Today, not one, but two federal district courts determined that the Trump Administration acted unlawfully when it chose to suspend SNAP benefits for the month of November,” Bonta said in a statement. “The Trump Administration knows that it has a legal duty to fund SNAP benefits, even during the current government shutdown.”

We have a problem where people are not going to have enough food and that we need to support the food banks. We are responding to Trump and the Republicans in their crusade to destroy food benefits. State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco

Last week, San Francisco announced it had committed to using $9 million in its reserve funding to cover the loss in benefits for its residents who use SNAP. Philanthropic foundation Crankstart has also agreed to match the $9 million with a grant for the month of November.

‘An invitiation’

But San Francisco-Marin Food Bank executive director Tanis Crosby says that more help is needed, especially volunteers.

“CalFresh benefits for November are protected in the city of San Francisco, but that doesn’t solve the problem,” Crosby said in an interview. “Food insecurity is higher now than at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, so we’ve got an all-hands-on-deck effort to increase the capacity in our community while working with our partners to deliver on the demand that we see.”

One of the food bank’s partners that is trying to help mitigate the impact of SNAP cuts is DoorDash. DoorDash provides deliveries of donations from San Francisco-Marin Food Bank.

Boxes of food donations packaged by volunteers at San Francisco Marin Food Bank in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, Oct. 31, 2025. The food bank is trying to highlight the need for emergency food aid amid the federal government shutdown. (Alise Maripuu/Bay City News)

For the month of November, all delivery and service fees for certain food, grocery, and food bank donations for SNAP recipients will be waived. 

DoorDash has partnered with grocery stores like Sprouts, Wegmans, and Dollar General to provide free delivery for an estimated 300,000 deliveries nationwide during the shutdown. It is also waiving delivery fees for meal donations from about 300 different food banks.

“We know that SNAP is the most important anti-hunger program in the United States, and starting tomorrow, that program could go dark,” Victor Ruiz-Cornejo, the head of public engagement for DoorDash’s Western region, said in an interview.

The holiday season is already a busy time of year for food banks. Crosby said that San Francisco-Marin Food Bank has enough supply, but not enough volunteers to help pack and deliver donations for the high demand it’s anticipating.

“It’s a holiday season, and this is a time when budgets are stretched even further, so this is just another compounding factor,” Crosby said. “It is amazing what’s possible when the community works together to end hunger. This is an invitation, and it’s a call to action. Join us.”

Alise Maripuu is an intern at BCN with a focus on covering the Peninsula. Originally from San Carlos, Alise discovered her passion for journalism after studying abroad in Thailand during her senior year attending UC Santa Cruz. Her experience in Thailand taught her the consequences for democracy when living in a society with strict laws against free speech. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in history, Alise took courses in journalism at Skyline Community College to learn how to write for news. As the Chief Copy Editor on Skyline’s student-run newspaper for the 2023-24 school year, Alise gained editing and managing experience leading a team of reporters. She covered hyperlocal stories affecting her campus such as the rise in food and housing insecurity. Alise wants to focus on data journalism.