Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, the non-profit Mobilize Love has been using its food trucks to deliver free meals.
Now Mobilize Love is showing its support for the Black Lives Matter movement by bringing its services to communities of color. For the people who run the group's outreach trucks, tackling racial inequality means addressing basic needs.
"It starts with the root of the issues that people of color are facing on a daily basis," Mobilize Love Communications Director Edward Lee said. "Households of color experience hunger at rates of up to 21.5%. We know that 8% of African Americans have a grocery store in their census tract. We know that elderly people of color are twice as likely as their white counterparts to be hungry."
This is our TENTH week of serving the Bay Area since #covid19 hit.Our philosophy is simple: By providing food, we are meeting the most basic physiological needs. And in doing so, we replace hunger for #HOPE! pic.twitter.com/dhD7Zb3DzH
— Mobilize Love (@mobilizelovesf) May 21, 2020Lee told KCBS Radio the organization's food trucks allow it bring services to areas in and around San Francisco that might not otherwise get them.
"And we do so by providing these mobile services in neighborhoods that are most affected by social racial and systemic injustice," Lee said. "So our target is really ensuring that communities of color have access to these outreach trucks on regular basis and we provide them these free meals so that they don't go hungry."
They're starting in communities like Bayview and SOMA with plans to expand.
"We realized they are the ones that are most in need and we do hope to continue to provide meals to communities," Lee explained. "(The) goal is to expand neighborhoods that we're reaching."
The pandemic has forced the organization to hold off on its other services like wellness and laundry trucks.
If you want to donate, just $3 buys a hot meal.
A post shared by Mobilize Love (@mobilizelove) on Jun 5, 2020 at 8:08am PDT
