Samaritan House has the largest Food Services Program in San Mateo County. We provide more than 1 million meals each year to our low income neighbors who struggle to make ends meet. If you love working with food, we have many different ways you can support us.
We have different opportunities across Food Services that you can consider. Please check out the options below.
Help us prepare the 650+ hot meals we supply to the community every day. Volunteers work alongside Chef Ruby and our Kitchen Staff in San Mateo. Shifts are 3 hours and available Monday through Friday 9am-12 and Friday afternoon 1-4pm. You must be able to stand for the shift and lift up to 20 lb.
Sort donated food, pack grocery bags and help clients shop in our food pantry. We give out more than 50,000 bags of groceries each year. Limited openings are available Monday through Friday between 9am-12 and from 1-4pm. Volunteers must be able to stand for their shift and repeatedly lift up to 20 lb of groceries.
Help deliver meals to some of our homebound client’s residences in and around San Mateo. The route is ideal for a team of 2 and normally takes about an hour and a half to complete depending on traffic. You must be able to collect food from our Kitchen on Pacific Blvd, from 2:30 – 4pm,be physically capable of lifting up to 10lb of cooked food into your vehicle and have your own vehicle to drive the route. We have openings on multiple weekday afternoons and would require you to commit to a regular schedule that could be weekly or bi-weekly.
Volunteers work in a downtown San Mateo location to serve a hot evening meal to anyone who needs it. Shifts are from 4 – 6:30pm Monday through Friday. We currently do not have any openings for volunteers to help in this program due to COVID program structure changes.
Help distribute fresh produce and groceries to our clients on the third Friday of each month from 3:30 – 5:30pm. The distribution is held at an off-site location in San Mateo. This is a good opportunity for children over 12 and their families to work together after school. Volunteers must be able to stand for their shift and repeatedly lift up to 20 lb of groceries.
Our Food Pharmacy helps pre-diabetic and diabetic patients manage their symptoms with a Rx of food. We are looking for two or three volunteers to help set up our Food Pharmacy at our San Mateo Clinic on Wednesdays. We would also love some additional support at our more established Redwood City Clinic Food Pharmacy. Under 18s are not able to do this role. Volunteers must be able to stand for their shift and repeatedly lift up to 20 lb of groceries.
