Root Park Lunch for Homeless

Four others and I feed the homeless and hungry at Root Park, Downtown San Leandro two days a  week every Monday and Friday 12 noon. But one person dropped out recently who was chief funder for the lunch, and things are getting tighter due to team transportation, tight living quarters, labor availability.  Since then we've been having trouble funding the food and hot meals. The team would be most grateful for publicity and donations to pay for sandwiches,  pizza or chicken chow mein and rice, for example, or food stuffs for cooking the meals ourselves. The lunch has a history of over five years in this park and is descended from teams that ran the Pennies for the Poor meals at Saint Leander Church, which went on twice a month in the church garden (in old town San Leandro a few blocks away) until over 15 months ago when it was cancelled. Generous funding of any amount through this site would mean not scrambling each week for the money to get coffee, plates, cups, forks, etc. and allow us to serve free meals of comfort food. We can provide our time and labor for the needy and homeless, but need help with the budget. We think that folks with no housing, who can go to food events at a certain time and place get a sense of caring along with a good meal. As rents have skyrocketed, there is very limited housing available. According to news sources homelessness has increased 40% in Alameda county in the past two years. The region is in a housing crisis and many are left outdoors. Thank you for your consideration.