San Francisco families enduring job loss, food insecurity, high rates of Covid-19, and great stress are receiving essential services and a caring connection.
In normal times, Good Samaritan Family Resource Center is a bustling cheerful place where toddlers enjoy preschool, parents and grandparents participate in ESL classes and teens hone their academic skills, build connections and have fun in after-school programs. When COVID struck, Good Samaritan did an almost instantaneous pivot and began serving its clients in three critically important new ways: Delivery of Essential Goods Good Samaritan has provided:
$160,000 in emergency cash assistance
100,000 free diapers
75 weekly food boxes for newly arrived immigrant families
160 hot food trays, weekly, in the Bayview neighborhood with the Calvary Hill Community Church
Immigrant Family Wellness Check-Ins and Virtual Support Good Samaritan leveraged their deep connections with clients to arrange weekly wellness and virtual support with more than 850 Immigrant families. During these check-ins and support groups, trained staff assess well-being, provide support and assistance and help Immigrant families who have suffered steep job losses to access emergency grants and safety net services. Families feel less alone and less afraid. Learning Support
Good Samaritan switched to virtual programming, accompanied by check-ins and support, for the 355 students who count on their afterschool learning and enrichment programs.
Good Samaritan has reopened its Child Development Center to ⅓ of its students, ensuring that children are prepared for kindergarten and parents can work.
Good Samaritan has pioneered “Community Hubs,” or physical sites where school children can find food, computers, and mentors each day.