Alameda County food bank partners with vintage store to offer free totes with donations

Give a little tote a lot Alameda County Society Food Bank has partnered with Oakland Vintage Mart to host a donation drive this Saturday from a m to p m at Jefferson St in Oakland with the benefit of a limited edition tote bag upon donation The drive comes as food banks across the region face increased need for food assistance that was critically felt during the establishment shutdown this past fall and is only expected to grow in the coming year with additional cuts to the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Plan revealed Arlan Murillo ACCFB s Director of Client Services Necessities have been growing that why this event is so vital Murillo commented There s around society members in the county that rely on SNAP And so the shutdown the fear of SNAP cuts that are yet to be implemented has created a lot of fear and a lot of concerns in the larger region Vanessa Murray the owner of Narrative and founder of Oakland Vintage Territory mentioned this year s donation drive is more key than in years past with the cuts to the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Campaign She disclosed that supporting the ACCFB by hosting the food drive is her way of giving back after the area helped advocacy her business through the pandemic I went through a period of time several years ago where I was working full time and I still needed SNAP benefits Murray disclosed I just feel like it s super fundamental as a business when you re in a town like Oakland and they really show up to assistance you