BART's Holiday Toy Drive benefits Mission Food Hub, an essential resource for food, community, and culture for Mission District neighbors

A photo from a previous year's toy giveaway at Mission Food Hub in San Francisco's Mission District.

During the pandemic, Marisol volunteered at Mission Food Hub, an opportunity that snowballed into her being hired as an ambassador for San Francisco's Community Ambassadors Program, a safety and neighborhood engagement effort run by the city. CANA staff served as references.

"It's not just me - my entire family has benefitted from CANA," she said.

Marisol's 14-year-old son, Emmanuel, is interested in business, so CANA gave him a space at 2024 Carnaval to sell soda, water, and chips. With the money he earned, he was able to purchase his own computer. Marisol said he cited CANA staff, including Rosine, in his recent school applications.

"I didn't know that!" Rosine said through tears.

When CANA was founded by CEO Roberto Hernandez more than four decades ago, it was primarily an arts and cultural organization that sought to connect people to their Latino heritage and community. Since the pandemic, CANA has expanded that purview to include health in all its manifestations - mental, physical, financial, etc.

In February 2020, CANA pivoted after canceling Carnaval due to the onset of the pandemic. In those early months, COVID infections were concentrated among low-income Latino people with frontline jobs, who also experienced significantly higher mortality rates compared to other ethnic groups.

Roberto was scrambling to find a way to serve the community during the unprecedented and devastating time. The idea for the Mission Food Hub came to him a few weeks after an impactful phone call with a señora who was trying to apply for unemployment. The restaurant she worked for was paying her in cash, and since everything was off the books, she didn't qualify for a scrap of governmental assistance.

So, Roberto asked her: "What's the one thing I can help you with right now?" Her response: "Groceries."