The Peninsula Special Interest Lions Club, in a joint venture with the South San Francisco Golden Gate Lions Club, is excited to announce they have recently applied for a Lions Club International Foundation Grant for $75,000 to provide industrial refrigerators for the Food Pantry Expansion at Samaritan House. Our Lions Clubs will provide an additional $25,000 of matching funds to meet this need.
The homeless, underserved and at risk people and veterans in San Mateo County have significantly increased during the COVID pandemic, as well as exponentially increased the homeless and those in need of food. Samaritan House was serving 400 meals per day before the Pandemic and is now serving over 3,600 meals per day and the number continues to increase. A new Pantry Expansion is underway, and they greatly need new industrial refrigerators to meet this need.
For over 45 years, Samaritan House has served San Mateo County, an area between San Jose and San Francisco. As one of San Mateo’s leading nonprofits, Samaritan House is the largest food distribution agency in the county and is recognized as a role model in the community. Their free service offerings include shelter and housing assistance; medical and dental clinics; clothes for children; personalized case management and much more. Each year, they provide services and resources to more than 14,000 low-income and homeless San Mateo County residents in need, including families with children, seniors and individuals living with a disability, veterans and homeless adults. In the past year they served 23,000 individuals (up from 15,000 in 2019). They indicate that since COVID19 they have served 100,000 extra meals per month. In 2019 they served 1.3 million meals and in 2020 1.7 million meals. They serve all ages.
The plan is to provide a total of 5 refrigerators and 3 freezers in their facility in San Mateo, as pictured below.
