Food & Essential Supplies

Community Resources

Support for those who care for children and for families needing access to essential resources. This list includes community assistance for food, formula, diapers and other essential services and supplies.

Cal Fresh: current status of benefits

https://www.cdss.ca.gov/benefi...

WIC Services:

https://myfamily.wic.ca.gov/Ho...

Food Banks

Food bank list by county - CDSS

Find a food bank near you.

Find a food pantry

Find a food pantry in your city.

Find a community Freedge

Freedge is a sharing mechanism aiming to reduce food insecurity and food waste, building a stronger community. We promote equal access to healthy food through the installation of community fridges (public refrigerators) that are used to share food and ideas at the neighborhood level.

Support over the phone

211 California

211 connects residents to free, confidential health and human services—including food assistance, affordable housing, financial aid, child care, utility support, and crisis intervention. Available 24/7, 211 helps Californians of all backgrounds find the essential resources they need to thrive.

  • Visit 211ca.org OR call 211 for immediate help

Text

You can find meal programs near you by texting the word FOOD to 304-304, thanks to our friends at No Kid Hungry . You’ll get a message with nearby locations. Data and message rates may apply.

Call

Calling the USDA Hotline at 1-866-348-6479 is another great way to find free meal programs in your area. You can reach them Monday through Friday between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. Eastern time.

Food for children

Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP)

Whether you are a family-based provider or an administrator of a child care center, participating in the Federal Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) is a great benefit to the health and wellness of the children you serve.

Backpack Program

Backpack food programs offer families free groceries for weekends and school breaks. Food backpacks include healthy, easy-to-prepare food for kid-friendly meals.

Kids Cafe

Kids Cafes are after-school programs that give free meals to kids after school, on the weekends, and during the summer. They also have fun activities and tutoring. Community organizations like Boys and Girls Clubs, churches, libraries, and schools host these programs.

School Pantry

A school food pantry is a food pantry located inside or close to a school. School pantries serve families who need extra help affording groceries. They are not limited to students who receive free or reduced lunch. Some welcome all students in their district even if they don’t attend that school. Some also welcome neighbors in the community, even if they don’t have children at the school.

CA Meals for Kids Mobile APP

The CA Meals for Kids mobile application helps you find nearby California Afterschool and Summer Meal Programs Sites through your iOS, Android, or Microsoft devices.

Infants and toddlers

Free Formula Exchange

The Free Formula Exchange is a nationwide mutual aid network connecting families who need baby formula to people who have formula to donate.

Mother’s Milk Bank California

Mothers’ Milk Bank of California is a pioneering nonprofit dedicated to providing screened, donated human milk to vulnerable infants. Since 1974, MMB California has collected, pasteurized, and distributed safe breast milk to hospitals and families nationwide. Supported by a dedicated community of nearly 25,000 milk donors, MMB California supports thousands of families during their times of greatest need.

WIC

The California Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program is a food and nutrition program for growing families. The program provides nutrition education, breastfeeding and chestfeeding support, benefits to buy healthy foods, and referrals to health care and other community services.

Diaper Bank Providers - CDSS

Find a diaper bank in your county.

Support for elderly and disabled

Project Open Hand (Bay Area)

Project Open Hand prepares more than 2,500 life-sustaining meals with love every day to help people fight illness and cope with the challenges of aging. We also provide healthy groceries to more than 200 clients a day, who visit our two grocery centers. Locations available in San Francisco and Oakland

Mom’s Meals

Mom’s Meals has meal options and programs that serve a wide range of health and nutritional needs. In many cases, meals may be covered under a health plan or other type of benefit including Medicaid and Medicare Advantage.

Farmers market programs

WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program

Eligible WIC participants are issued FMNP coupons in addition to their regular WIC benefits. These coupons can be used to buy eligible foods from farmers, farmers markets or roadside stands that have been approved by the state agency to accept FMNP coupons.

Market Match

Customers who spend their CalFresh EBT benefits (also known as SNAP or food stamps) at Foodwise farmers markets can double their food dollars with Market Match. The Market Match program helps make farm-fresh, locally grown foods more affordable by matching CalFresh benefits dollar-for-dollar, up to $15, with coins that can be redeemed for fruits and vegetables at any farm in our farmers markets.

Farmer’s Market Finder

Many farmer’s markets offer special programs for active SNAP recipients. Use this map to find a market near you and explore what programs are available in your area.

Seed libraries

Seed Library Network

A Seed Lending Library program offers users access to seeds and instructional material for starting an at-home garden. In addition, the library can offer a series of healthy and sustainable living events including gardening and healthy cooking workshops, presented in conjunction with local gardening organizations and food and cooking educators.

California Public Library Branches with Seed Libraries

Use this database to find a public library near you that has an active seed library.

Native food and seed distribution

In collaboration with Native community partners and local farms, we distribute Native foods, medicines, and local organic produce to Native community members and families throughout the Bay Area. Each season we grow, save, and share seed from culturally important Native heirloom crops and California native plants. Our Native Seed Library reconnects Native community members with their ancestral seeds and helps to keep alive seed stories and seedkeeping traditions from across Turtle Island.

Community gardens

Looking for a garden? Use this map to search for a community garden near you!

Tool lending libraries

A tool lending library is a shared resource that allows community members to borrow tools for home repair, gardening, and other projects instead of buying them. These libraries operate similarly to traditional libraries, requiring membership and sometimes a fee, but they provide access to a wide range of tools from power tools to gardening equipment.

Additional resources

Find Help

Search by zip code to find free or reduced-cost resources like food, housing, financial assistance, health care, and more.

A full list of everything you get for free with an EBT card

Your EBT card does more than just buy groceries. Enrolling in SNAP (also called food stamps) can get you and your household access to all sorts of free and discounted perks, including museum tickets, public transit passes, job training and career services, and gym memberships.

Food & Supply Source - Savings 4 Members

Food & Supply Source is a partner to childcare centers and nonprofits throughout the United States. This program is all about saving YOU money on food and supply purchases.
On average, you will see a 10-35% discount on current food spending. Performing a free cost analysis can help you save thousands of dollars on food annually if you currently work with a food distributor.

Falling Fruit

Falling Fruit is a celebration of the overlooked culinary bounty of our city streets. By quantifying this resource on an interactive map, we hope to facilitate intimate connections between people, food, and the natural organisms growing in our neighborhoods. Not just a free lunch! Foraging in the 21st century is an opportunity for urban exploration, to fight the scourge of stained sidewalks, and to reconnect with the botanical origins of food.

DoorDash free delivery (*temporary service)

DoorDash is launching an Emergency Food Response, including free delivery for our Project DASH food bank and food pantry partners nationwide, and we’re partnering with leading grocers to waive delivery and service fees for an estimated 300,000 orders for SNAP recipients.

*Currently this service will only be available for the month of November 2025. We will update this information as needed.

Too Good To Go APP

With the Too Good To Go app you can easily see which cafes, restaurants, bakeries and/or stores in your local area have perfectly good food left over for you to save and enjoy at half of the price or less.