Our elevators continue to breakdown and we are struggling to find the dollars to repair them.
On average, over 150 clients shop per week at our grocery center, and many depend on the elevators. We anticipate that number to rise when restrictions are completely lifted, back up to our pre-COVID number of nearly 300.
And the 2,500 meals we produce daily require multiple stops on different floors for packaging, cold storage, or assembly in the kitchen.
We have two passenger elevators and one freight elevator, and there are some days when all elevators are “out of service” at the same time. This creates a stressful situation for our staff, volunteers, and clients.
It has reached a point where the repairs need to happen soon, especially as more people are starting to come in for services.
But it’s not just our clients that depend on the elevators. 730 Polk Street is a multi-service health center that caters to the needs of many of our surrounding community members. Not only do they receive life-saving nutrition from us, but they also receive important, critical health services from three other health service organizations in our building. When restrictions are lifted, we anticipate the combined number of clients they serve per day to increase to 200 and on-site staff to be over 100.
When our elevators go down, our clients, like Bobby, cannot get the services they need.
“I’d really be scared if I was upstairs in the Grocery Center and had all my groceries and the elevators shut down. I wouldn’t know how to get down to the first floor,” said client Bobby, who is wheelchair bound and depends to move to and from our second-floor grocery center.
Please join our Uplift Campaign and help us raise $375,000 by June 30th to help us fix our aging elevators and support all our life-saving programs. Your gift today will be matched dollar for dollar up to $375,000 thanks to a group of generous donors and our Board of Directors.
Your contribution today will help increase our capacity as the Bay Area prepare to reopen, deliver more meals to home-bound clients, and provide more Meals with Love to clients like Bobby.
We can't do this without you!