good morning. welcome to mosaic. it is always a joe -- joy to host mosaic. on behalf of the producer and cohost. gandhi wants said it is hard for a hungry man to serve god. it is hard for anybody who is hungry to serve god. women and children. we know that food stamps are being cut back. we know that hunger affects people all over the globe and even in our own backyard. but we have many organizations that try to address that. food banks and so forth. we have organizations in churches that work to try to address that. but it is always a growing

need. we are privileged today to have two people who work at st. james catholic church who are active, as well as having the food bank. we welcome you. it is good to have you. >> thank you. >> good morning. >> tell us a little bit about your program. >> we started the program about a year ago. it is actually an episcopal church. >> okay. >> it was a little emergency food pantry. we took it over. we knew we had to keep it running. as soon as we began to talk with the food bank, we realized -- they told us we were at the center of hunger. and that rfid bank has the potential to feed a lot more people. so they asked us to go to the client choice of model, which is a model open to diversity.

we began to switch out our model. and very quickly, we grew up to -- about 220 families. and the families average between four and five people. from 1-year-old 27 years old -- up to seven years old. >> we mentioned the hunger. and that food stamps are being cut back. will that affect you? >> we are expecting that to affect us quite a bit. the food pantry picks up at the end of the month, when money runs out. although we are busy all month long. we have this one day a week on wednesday. and, yes, there are large families. we have only been going for one year. we don't know exactly what it will look like. we know that we are growing because of word-of-mouth. >> yes.

>> and with the holiday season and with cuts, we don't know what that will look like. >> you came here from italy, right? >> from brazil. >> okay. >> i got involved with the food pantry at st. james episcopal church because there is a large need. and there is hunger. and there is violence. one thing i have seen in our program is the fact that, we are breaking the cycle of hunger. we have issues of ethnic groups. and it is a lot of the same different groups coming together and trying to communicate. i was just telling a story of a group of latinos who volunteer at the food pantry.

they learned the names of food in cantonese so they can communicate. that is a beautiful sign of trying to reach to other people. it is informative for the volunteers as well. >> that is true. i just met both of you a few minutes ago. i heard you say that you came here to graduate from berkeley. >> yes. oakland is the perfect place to be. >> that is great. >> we work with another episcopal church. charge of our savior, in oakland. and they do the cantonese and mandarin translations for us, in the food pantry. >> that is really fantastic. >> we have different people working with us to communicate. and work with different clients. >> i would say one of the main

things we are experiencing and the project, is having people come to volunteer from different segments. we have two other churches working with us. our savior and st. john in oakland. we also have non-christian, working with us. because hunger is an issue that touches everybody. >> that is true. >> but when you want to change, people come -- it is powerful for all of us. >> that is great. >> and to your point earlier, we have an intern who spoke so eloquently saying that food insecurity is the beginning of a lot of suffering. you cannot study if you are not eating. you cannot get an education. the opportunity for violence increases so much. so realizing that this is really a basic fundamental ground- floor issue, at the beginning of all

ministry. >> we're glad you are doing this work. we have another segment with you. we're glad you are here on the program. >> thank you so much. >> thank you for coming. we know there is hunger throughout the community and society and the world. we're joined here.

welcome back. we were talking about the food bank. now we have the representative of the food bank for the entire area. and we want to welcome him. it is great to have you, mike. >> thank you for having me. >> tell us about the food bank. >> we are a lifeline to alameda county residents. we serve 49,000 people just in alameda county alone every week. almost half of those people are children. we are just one food bank within the bay area serving the larger bay area. there are five just like us that are all doing the same thing. all doing great work. really working hard to serve our community this time of year. >> how did food bank start?

how long have they've been around? >> they have been around since 1985. the history is that there where a number of organizations just like st. james, that were working to do hunger relief work throughout the county. and they came together and realized that there needed to be a central location, kind of one strong network that could work together and most apply the impact. that is really how we started. we have grown -- we are distributing about 23 23 million pounds of food every year. that is over 20 million meals. >> that is great. where do you get the donations from and the food from? where it is it -- how does it work? >> we purchase more than half of the food we distribute. we get donations mostly from individuals. more than half of the contributions we get come from individuals. we get some corporate support and some foundation support as well. we say that community is our

middle name. we really mean that. our support comes from the community. and it goes right back to the community. >> how long have you been doing this? >> almost three years. it is a very fulfilling position. and coming to work every day is very energizing and very i opening. there are about 75 or 80 people here that are very passionate about this work. we are very fulfilled. >> if you are hungry and have a family, how do we get an line? how do we go about getting the food? >> we have an emergency food help line. 800-870-food. anybody who is in an emergency need of food, they need a bag of groceries that day, they can call that number and we will direct them to a source of food in the neighborhood. the help line is mostly volunteers. we have a couple of full-time staff as well. they are well versed in

everything. including the public transit system. if someone needs to take public transportation, they are very helpful. the amount of times i hear stories about people who call scared and confused, not knowing where to turn -- and by the time they get off the phone with our helpline operators, they are comforted. and they know that there is an organization that will help them and look out for them. it is amazing. >> half of the people are children. is there any limit to how much food you give to the families? how does that work? >> our mission is to make sure people are properly nourished. children are a prime example of the importance of that. a child who does not have proper nourishment cannot learn. they cannot develop appropriately. we want to make sure that families are able to have, not just enough food on the table, but the right food as well. that is definitely an important part of it.

>> who decides the menu? talking about nutrition and the proper foods and so on? >> we focus very heavily on healthy food. we are buying in bulk. we are buying a lot of staple items. canned vegetables, bread, grain, peanut butter and tuna, when we can afford it. those are very expensive items. half of the food, however, it is fresh produce. fresh fruits and vegetables. things that are difficult for low income families to find. not just a ford, but find in their own neighborhoods. because there are not grocery stores. we are out there making sure the food we distribute is as healthy as possible. the other important element of that is the community. we put out the food drive barrels. we really encourage the donors to put some thought into the foods they are distributing. we've got some direction on our barrels. we really want people to think about it. what kind of meals what they want on the taes and vegetable

our community does have a lot of control with that. we really appreciate those healthy items. >> with the holidays coming up, how are you going to confront or deal with that? >> hunger is a year-round problem in alameda county. we, however, get about half of our financial support in the next three months. so we are out this time of year or just taking advantage of that. we will have about 3000 to drive barrels place all around the county, whether it is in schools, churches or businesses. we definitely encourage people to donate. as well as anywhere else in the bay area. and in the food banks, the thing we need most this time of year is financial donations. we take every single dollar that we received and distribute $4 worth of food. food banks are very efficient in that sense. so people can go online. our website is acc.ac.org.

there is also bay area.org and that will direct people to the food bank in their local area. >> i was going to ask you that. you mentioned the 800 number. but then the website to give, you mentioned the website quickly. >> accfb, as in alameda county community food bank. people can go to bay area hunger.org. >> you have expressed a real passion for this. it sounds great. what kind of people that volunteer for this, do they have the same kind of passion that you have? >> we have volunteers come from all walks of life. clients often volunteer. supporters volunteer. we have children up to seniors.

schools and every corporation you can think of. what is amazing as people come into our facility the first time, and it is usually a surprise -- i don't want to say a shock, but they see the size of it. they look at the stocks of food. there are millions of pounds of food. you really see people getting passionate about the work. and when people leave for the first time after being there, we usually have fans for life. it is really amazing and heartwarming, the support we get from the community. people are e-mailing us and going online and sharing pictures. the best thing that people can do, after they come, bring back friends or another group. it is just fascinating it is amazing. >> thank you for being with us, mike. >> thank you for having me. >> continue the great work. >> we will. >> continue to look at ways in your community that you can help food banks and the hungry.

feed the hungry. thank you for being with us. we have another segment.

>> welcome back to mosaic. the first segment was on the food bank and the need for addressing hunger. now we go to the parks. many people find great enjoyment going to parks. and we know that can be vital to our own health and well-being also. so we welcome iraq's blitz -- ira blitz. >> i am in charge of the farm down in fremont. one of 65 parks guns -- in the

district. we have over 100,000 acres of land in alameda county set aside for people to enjoy. >> this is phenomenal. i was looking at the brochure. we had not quite discovered anything like this. tell us about it. >> it was founded in 1934, in the middle of the great depression. people living in the oakland berkeley area were concerned there would be no parkland. a committee was formed. they put a measure on the ballot, to authorize the creation of this park district. next year is our 80th anniversary. starting with three parks in 1934, we have grown to over 65 parks scattered all across the east bay, from the edge of san francisco they up to the delta. so it is really an amazing system, whether you like to fish, or boats or camp, or discover nature, or just get out and enjoy exercise.

the park is cheap. >> i was going to ask you, what does the park offer? tell us more about what is offered at different parks. >> pretty much anything you like to do outdoors. we have a wide range of activities. you can go birdwatching. you can go hiking. my specialty is inviting people to join us and learn about the environment and learn about local history. at the historic farm i work yet, it is a 205-acre park. it was a 3000-acre farm dating back to the 1850s. today we have reserved 100 acres of farm fields. we have a historic home and some historic structures, that teach people what life was like at a farm more than 100 years ago. >> is that how you got your name? naturalist? >> yes, naturalist. teaching people about natural history and cultural history. give people an insight into the area they live. and ways to enjoy them on their

own. we have a big event coming up on the seventh and eighth of december. that is the annual christmas celebration. it is a christmas celebration from the late 1800s. >> where is that again? >> it is in fremont. where the bridge connects to i-80. right where the highway comes together. you will see farm fields. that is where we are. >> how many people go their on a yearly basis? >> we have probably over 150,000 people visit each year. >> that is great. a great number. >> yes. we have a lot of programs that take place throughout the year. the christmas event coming up is exciting. you can meet father christmas. you can hunt for the yule log. we have historic cooking demonstrations on a wood burning stove. there are a lot of interesting things. just after that event, at the beginning of december, we also

have something pretty spectacular happening. and that is when monarch butterflies from all over the western united states and southern canada come to ardenwood to spend the winter. >> that is incredible. >> it is. we do a lot of programs. people can come and see the monarch butterflies. we have classes on weekdays. it is a chance to see an amazing phenomenon. the butterflies returning to ardenwood each year, are the great great grandchildren of the butterflies that were there last year. they have never been to the place. somehow, they find their way back. >> can you explain that? >> i can't. i wish i could. because then i could get a phd. nobody is sure exactly how they navigate and how they get there. but they always come back. they come to specific places, a handful of sites along the california coast, where the entire population of monarch butterflies west of the rocky mountains come to spend the winter. >> that happens in january?

>> it starts in late november. and goes on threw early february. >> it is happening now? >> it is just starting. butterflies are starting to arrive. the first butterflies programs take place the weekend after thanksgiving. >> that is fantastic. >> it is quite amazing. >> the butterflies come from all over the western u.s. if you show up with tags that researchers have placed on them. we were very excited one day when we found a butterfly with a tag from british columbia. >> amazing. we have another segment with you. we will come back in a few minutes and talk more. >>

welcome back to mosaic. if you heard the last segment, you would be excited. we heard from yolo team, a tell us more about the park. >> one of the most exciting things is the diversity of the parks that we have. they are close to where people

live. within 15 or 20 minutes from your house, and you can be in a park. you can find a wide range of activities. if you like to kayak or walk your dog or study nature, all of those things are possible. we have campfire programs in the summer. there are a lot of things to do. one of the easiest ways to get involved is to go to a visitor center. they are scattered around. there is one in fremont were i work. if you're interested in learning about native americans, or the grasslands or the marshlands of the san francisco they, -- sanford cisco bay, there is a place for that. if you want to find the waters of alameda creek, you can get into an amazing wilderness area. >> it is really rich. >> going up the bay, we have

the visitors center at crown beach. the largest beach at the san francisco bay. a great place. >> in alameda? >> yes, in alameda. right near the end of webster street. >> you can learn about sanford cisco bay, the estuary. they have an amazing election of aquariums. a lot of creatures. you can get up close. we have a nature area. it is a great place. they can ask you to trails were there is hiking. you can learn about animals and plants. it is a wonderful spot. you can go further east, and we have the black diamond mines. where there is an actual mine. >> where is that located? >> it is in antioch. >> it was a coal mine and it became a sand mine for glass

manufacturing. we restored a section of one of the mine shafts from what it would have looked like when it was a coal mine. people can tour that. the newest visitor center is in the delta. you can learn about the delta. and the whole water system of california. >> it is not that far away. it is in oakley. you can go out there. there are wonderful programs going on. a lot of kayaking opportunities. they also have a scale model of the whole san francisco bay and delta. you can walk across it. you can see how water flows through california. >> it is so exciting. i mentioned earlier, before we came on, with the shutting down of the government, talking about the parks being shut down, it

is pretty hard to shut down those parks. >> the national parks were the ones shut down. all of our parks were open. and accessible to people. we have 65 parks. 100,000 acres of land set aside for people to enjoy. 1000 miles of trails. people like to go hiking. we have swimming pools and picnic areas, great for families and group picnics. >> how long have you been doing this? >> i have been doing this for 33 years. >> it is a great place to work. >> it is really exciting. >> everybody listening is probably inspired to go to these parks. >> i hope so. i hope they stop by a visitor center. they can also visit our website. all the programs and activities are there listed. almost all of the programs are free or low-cost. >> how many visiting centers are there? >> we have six visitor centers. >> okay. i think i will be visiting one of those. >> i hope so. >> thank you, it is really

inspiring to hear this. >> thank you for joining us here at mosaic. we have had two very powerful segment. one on the food banks, that concern that faces us in the whole world. it is global and local. as well as these regional parks. i am excited. on behalf of mosaic, we are glad that you joined us. thank you.

welcome to bay sunday. i am your host, frank mallicoat. great to have you with us. we begin with our weekly pitch. if you have a show idea, we would love to hear from you. go to kpix.com. click on the kpix logo. scroll down to bay sunday. the first guest will make you think you little bit. probably a lot. his book is called, religion as an art form. it puts a new look on the life that we lead. looking at god as a verb, to be lived, and not as a noun, to be believed. it is for those that think of themselves as spiritual, but not religious. i have you thinking now right x let's say hello to the author. >> how are you? >> nice