After defeating a legal challenge earlier this year that prevented Alameda Food Bank from operating in its new headquarters in a warehouse at 677 Ranger Avenue, the food pantry is preparing for a new challenge: a record surge in food insecurity expected in 2026.
As Congress is set to enact deep cuts to the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, commonly referred to as food stamps, on Jan. 1, a move that advocates say will lead to a steep rise in food insecurity, the once small pantry that served 60 people is fortifying to feed up to 700 families, according to Executive Director Teale Harden.
“We knew and wanted this facility to be a regional asset,” Harden said. “We wanted to be prepared to play that role in future situations as well, which we did during the SNAP delays.”
County leaders expect a new surge in food insecure clients in January when Congressional cuts to food stamps in HR1, also known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” will result in an estimated $70 million annual cut to food stamps for Alameda County residents. The Alameda County Community Food Bank estimates that one in four Alameda County residents is experiencing food insecurity, which disproportionately impacts seniors, children and people of color.
When Alameda Food Bank moved into the building on Oct. 20, Harden said the facility was almost immediately “pressure-tested” with the lapse in SNAP funding as Congress wrung its hands while attempting to pass a funding bill. The food pantry tries to provide a baseline of produce, protein and stable shelf goods, but the organization has made a 35% cut to that baseline to preserve its resources.
“To be completely honest, we’re already struggling with having to reduce the number of options that we have available. It used to be that we would provide closer to like 20 dry-good options, and we’ve brought that down to 14,” Harden said. “And so we’re just continuing to see this trend of there being a greater need and fewer resources in the form of financial assistance grants.”
Alameda Food Bank’s efforts to overcome the pandemic and the recent lapse in SNAP funding has readied the food pantry for the coming challenges in 2026, Harden said. Ahead of Alameda Food Bank’s open house on Saturday where it welcomed the public to tour its 1.7-acre, 18,000-square-foot headquarters, Harden said it was “fortuitous” that Alameda Food Bank had not built a headquarters in the past decade, because it would not have been adequate to respond to the rising needs of today.
“The facility did everything we needed it to,” Harden said, “and we were able to provide a very high quality service to people during this really uncertain and stressful time.”
“I believe it was the 70s, and the last line of the news article was: ‘Alameda Food Bank is looking for its forever home.’ And so we finally fulfilled that mission,” Harden added.
