At Gordon J. Lau Elementary School, on a hill just above Stockton Street in San Francisco's Chinatown, 1,000 meals are given out freely each week to impoverished families.
More than 6 million of these so-called grab-and-go meals have been served up hot by the San Francisco Unified School District during the pandemic at various sites citywide. And for many who have lost their jobs, the meals can mean the difference between feeding their kids, or not.
But starting Tuesday, April 20, the meals won't be served in Chinatown anymore. As schools reopen across the city this week and next, grab-and-go meals served at school sites across San Francisco will be shifted to new locations.
For Chinatown residents, the nearest available SFUSD-provided grab and go meals will shift to the Tenderloin neighborhood at 225 Eddy St. — a Muni bus ride away. Some families and groups that provide services to them say even this seemingly short extension of a journey is dangerous at a time when racist attacks against Asian communities are on the rise.
Jun Chang Tan is a custodian who lives with his family in a single room occupancy hotel in Chinatown. His wife lost her job at a salon during the pandemic, and he lost hours at his custodian job. They rely on the grab-and-go meals from Gordon J. Lau Elementary to feed their two children, a 15-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter.
Tan said he fears having to go to the Tenderloin to pick up food because of recent attacks.
"When I was looking at the map — one of the locations is in the Tenderloin. That street is basically — I’ve seen it — it’s all homeless people," Tan told KQED in Cantonese. "So my worries include the impact on my health and sanitation. I’m also worried about getting attacked. This risk is greater. So I feel that it’s not desirable."
Tan described lines for meals at Gordon J. Lau Elementary stretching farther than a block every Tuesday and Thursday. The need in Chinatown, he said, is high. Others in Chinatown echoed Tan's concerns.
"I wouldn't feel safe lining up in the Tenderloin," said Donny Aoieong, vice president of Service Employees International Union Local 1021's school district chapter. Aoieong was raised in Chinatown, where he still lives with his wife, Maria Yap, a school nutrition worker. He said he raised the issue with the school board last week.
Free meals will continue to be served to students going to school in person at Gordon J. Lau Elementary, but many families are hesitant to return to in-person learning, SFUSD data shows. Out of the families 741 students, only 18% of respondents said they felt comfortable returning for in-person instruction in a December SFUSD survey. Aoieong said that number hasn't changed much, and that only about 60 families have said they'd return for in-person instruction at the school, a number SFUSD did not confirm in time for publication.
Families not returning for in-person instruction still need access to food. But they won't be getting it in Chinatown, at least not from SFUSD.
"Why transfer all these people to a different community when we could have them in our own community?" Aoieong asked.