Mission Pie is a fabulous café that makes, yes, PIE of all kinds, from ingredients grown entirely on its nonprofit Pie Ranch in the Santa Cruz mountains. Kids from the Mission help grow the food, harvest the wheat, bake the pies and sell them back in the city. Mission Pie is about as local and real as food can get….and they’re currently matching all donations you make in their cafe to The Food Pantry and another neighbor, Martin de Porres House of Hospitality. “Abundance is all around us in San Francisco,” write the folks at Mission Pie. “Let’s share it with those who need it most.” Please drop by Mission Pie for a delicious slice of walnut, apple, quince or even chicken pie, and put a few bucks in the jar for us.

Mission Street Food has been sharing with The Food Pantry and a whole slew of neighborhood nonprofits since it opened. The twice-a-week restaurant, staffed by wildly inventive guest chefs and housed in a funky Chinese restaurant, gives all its profits away. They’ve given the proceeds of several evenings to us, have invited Paul Fromberg and Sara Miles of The Food Pantry to cook there, and now are giving us all the profits from wine sold at Mission Street Food (via a generous donation from Elyse Winery.) So drink up! Make a reservation at Mission Street Food, check out their amazing PB&J (pork belly, jicama and jalapeño) dish, and know that your dinner will help support local nonprofits.

Our heartfelt thanks to Anthony and Karen, Karen and Krystin.

If you need food, call 211.  If you can give, please click on our donate button or support your local food bank.

Autumn is here and the watermelons are replaced by winter squash and leafy greens, though the onions and potatoes and apples remain. The Pantry is a slower, calmer place; the bags of groceries are more manageable as we shift into a comfort level with our new system of serving the hungry people within our San Francisco community. This allows us more time to make eye contact, say hello, lend a hand and be both human and kind in these trying times.
Hard to believe that today the Pantry commemorated its NINTH anniversary. A brief celebratory service was held, replete with the sharing of wine and – of course! – bread, blessed by Steve Hassett (English) Connie Lam (Cantonese) and Anibal Mejia (Spanish.) The deepening of community from the core circle of providers to the wider circle of St. Gregory’s, and out into the streets of San Francisco is what transpired today. Everywhere is blessing-– we need only quietly go within to know. Then sing and feast, however simply, then give thanks. These troubling times too shall surely pass.