San Francisco's GLIDE Memorial Church is ramping up its annual holiday grocery bag giveaway for underprivileged residents, while paying homage to a beloved co-founder months after her death earlier this year.
Volunteers and staff were busy on Monday, filling over 5,000 green bags with holiday fixings to distribute to nearly 20 community partners throughout San Francisco later this week. They packed traditional holiday meals, carrying on the yearly tradition for the first time without GLIDE co-founder Janice Mirikitani.
Mirikitani, who co-founded GLIDE alongside her eventual husband Cecil Williams, died in July. She wasn't far from volunteers' minds on Monday, as photos of Mirikitani and Williams, her widower, adorned the walls while they worked.
"All we are doing is carrying on Cecil and Jan’s legacy," George Gundry, Director of GLIDE's Daily Free Meals program, told KCBS Radio on Monday. "Cecil is still around. He is kind of retired, but still in the loop."
Gundry said GLIDE has dedicated its work this holiday season in Mirikitani's memory.
Monday marked the beginning of three days of work. Each bag is filled with a traditional holiday meal, including fresh turkey and chicken as the main course, with potatoes, fruit, vegetables, stuffing, cranberry sauce and dinner rolls on the side. Once the bags are prepared, they can start distributing them throughout the community as soon as Tuesday.
"Partners will come by and pick up their bags, we will deliver some bags tomorrow and then Wednesday is our big delivery day," Gundry said. "In total, we are going to deliver 5,500 bags throughout the community."
Generosity was on display Monday at GLIDE, as it has been for decades, but Gundry said many San Franciscans could especially use the help this holiday season. This December is the second amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which has exacerbated already existing inequality.
"Without GLIDE and our grocery bag giveaway, a lot of these folks would not be having a holiday meal," Gundry said.
