Drive-thru opportunities to share food at a hard time

As the pandemic grinds on, we’re all doing things we never did before.

We’re making sure to have at least one mask before leaving home. Fist- and elbow-bumping. Learning to perform at home and electronically all sorts of tasks and functions we used to do on location and face-to-face.

And many of us are for the first time accepting help to put food on the table.

With so many people out of work or under-employed, the Redwood Empire Food Bank is striving to meet an unprecedented demand for groceries. And individuals and organizations of all kinds are stepping up to assist the food bank's efforts to assure that fallout of the COVID-19 crisis causes no one to go hungry.

Cities throughout Sonoma County are teaming up with the REFB to collect food and money for purchasing and distributing food. On Wednesday, Santa Rosa and the food bank together hosted a drive-thru, Neighbors Helping Neighbors donation station at A Place to Play.

Donors didn't have to leave their cars at the recreation park on West Third Street. Cassidy Jourdan of the food bank approached each arriving vehicle and offered to lift food from the trunk or backseat or wherever it had been placed. Jourdan also accepted cash or checks for the REFB.

The next such food-and-money collection drive is set for Monday, Aug. 3, at the Rohnert Park-Cotati Regional Library, 6250 Lynne Condé Way in Rohnert Park.

And Cloverdale will co-host one on Friday, Aug. 7, at the police headquarters, 112 Broad St.

All of the drive-thru collection events run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The Redwood Empire Food Bank continues to call for volunteers to help the current demand. For more information go to: https://refb.org/volunteer-opportunities/