Fifty years ago, congregants from GLIDE Church organized a potluck for their hungry neighbors in the Tenderloin. Their pastor, Rev. Cecil Williams, GLIDE’s Co-founder and Minister of Liberation, requested fried chicken—a staple of any festive gathering in the African American community of his youth. That’s the origin of what has come to be known as

A dedicated volunteer whose legacy lives on through his bequest to GLIDE’s Daily Free Meals program Longtime volunteer Jonathan Leong passed away on October 19, 2017, leaving a very generous bequest to GLIDE’s Daily Free Meals program. Just days after creating his living trust, he told his sister Bonnie, “A person dies. A great charity

Ryan Clark is one of our GLIDE Emerging Leaders interns this summer. Joining us from Boston College, Ryan took an immediate interest in food justice, education and volunteerism, and has spent the last several weeks working on a campaign to increase and retain the number of volunteers in the Daily Free Meals Program. Though the

In August, 2017 GLIDE introduced two full-time Meals Navigators to the Daily Free Meals program, which is GLIDE’s largest and longest running program, offering meals three times daily to all in need or some 750,000 meals a year. Pamela Brown and Diane Truong help connect people in our community to other services at and beyond

Eddie is a Meals Program Team Member who first walked in the doors at 330 Ellis looking to volunteer. Two and a half years later, Eddie can do just about everything in the Meals Program – coffee house, prep room, main dining hall, opening shifts, closing shifts and everything in between. He does it all with a

Kent first came to GLIDE as a homeless teenager in search of a hot meal and assistance navigating San Francisco’s affordable housing system. Today, he returns every Monday and Thursday morning to volunteer in the kitchen, which comes easy to him – he has years of experience in the restaurant industry! He believes little things,

Welcome to our Volunteer and Staff Highlight Series! Throughout the next five weeks we will be shining the spotlight on a few of our amazing volunteers and staff members in the GLIDE Daily Free Meals program. These people pull off something miraculous every day — three times a day. If you’ve ever joined us for mealtime you know it’s a major operation, requiring

Maddi is a young man who is multi-lingual, a talented visual artist, and now homeless. He’s been coming to GLIDE frequently, and we have enjoyed getting to know him better. He graciously shared his story with us.   I was born in Kuwait, but I was born as a non-citizen, without documents. My mom is

Iona Lewis is a Case Manager with GLIDE’s Men in Progress program. Thanks to her father, Iona has been a part of the GLIDE community her entire life. Now, she and her husband Raphael are both employees here and their son, Carlo, attends GLIDE’s Family, Youth and Childcare Center (FYCC) during the day. Iona and

At one point in my life I was “designer guy in Laguna Beach” with a fancy house and a fancy car. I had all of this stuff. Talking about this makes me cry. If all of this had not happened, I would’ve been somebody that I don’t want to be. We don’t know what people’s tragedies are.

GLIDE celebrates its thriving partnership with local eco-friendly fishing company, Pioneer Seafoods If you’ve walked by the corner of Ellis and Taylor on any given weekday over the last few months, there is a chance you have seen a “fishy” operation taking place. Giuseppe and Joleen of Pioneer Seafoods have been hauling a truckload of

Meals program volunteer Michael finds meaning and pleasure in serving his Tenderloin neighbors Michael is a dedicated volunteer in GLIDE’s Daily Free Meals program as well as a program participant. Originally from the Glen Park neighborhood of San Francisco, Michael had only been coming to eat at GLIDE for a week before he started to spend

Jonathan Fennell has worked at GLIDE for over 17 years, and seen a lot of changes during his time here. As San Francisco celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the Summer of Love, members of GLIDE staff are reflecting on how the Church and Foundation have evolved over time. We were thrilled to catch up with

Former GLIDE client and current GLIDE team member, EARL WATSON I have struggled my whole life to rise above the poverty level and to reach my full potential. For way too long, and at every turn I took, something always went wrong and beat me down. I was born in Alabama, but my family moved

By: Sam Mogannam, Owner, Bi-Rite Family of Businesses September marked the 75th anniversary of Bi-Rite’s original market in the Mission, which my family has owned for more than 50 years. The anniversary presented us with an important moment to reflect on our history, celebrate our accomplishments, and thank the community that helped us achieve our

By: James Lin, GLIDE’s Co-Director of Human Resources and Organizational Integration. He arrived at GLIDE just before Thanksgiving in 2004. In my immigrant family in the 1970’s, Thanksgiving was probably the holiday that was the easiest to understand. My mother, who had lived through the bombing and occupation of her home cities in China during WWII, understood

My first experience with GLIDE started with hearing that Andreessen Horowitz‘s leaders would be featured at A GLIDE Talk with Ben Horowitz and Lars Dalgaard. As I was reading about the event, I decided to browse through the website and something really caught my attention about GLIDE’s mission: To empower the people at the bottom of

My experience volunteering at GLIDE began as a search for ritual. I moved to San Francisco from Washington D.C. in February to start a new job at a small real estate investment and development firm. Although I never expected the transition to be seamless, I was caught off guard by certain adjustments I’ve had to make as part of the move. On one hand, I did my research was braced upon arrival for the lack of seasons, the absurd topography, and the fervent debate over technology and gentrification that dominates the city’s political discourse.

Erica Rodriguez is an Emerging Leader intern from Chicago, IL. She is studying Human Development and Psychological Services at Northwestern University, and she hopes to pursue a career changing minds and changing lives. GLIDE has been an inspirational experience in her believing that this kind of change is possible. I had trouble looking anywhere but

Erica Rodriguez is an Emerging Leader intern from Chicago, IL. She is studying Human Development and Psychological Services at Northwestern University, and she hopes to pursue a career changing minds and changing lives. GLIDE has been an inspirational experience in her believing that this kind of change is possible. I had trouble looking anywhere but

Every year, GLIDE is fortunate to host thousands of volunteers that engage with our work in a variety of ways. GLIDE could not accomplish the important work of serving the community without the commitment and dedication of our volunteers – from those who come to help serve meals to those who contribute their time as

For the thousands of volunteers that serve in GLIDE’s Daily Free Meals Program every year, James Sampaga, Cook and Food Expeditor, is part of what makes their experience so memorable. His passion and love for his work shines through to all who have the pleasure to interact with him. James, once a Daily Free Meals

As San Francisco gets ready to cheer on the 49ers at this Sunday’s Super Bowl, here at GLIDE, we are reminded of the wonderful work of the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, which took place on December 29, 2012. For the past four years, the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl has selected GLIDE as one of three

For over two decades, the famous San Francisco restaurant, House of Prime Rib, has donated 2,000 lbs of prime rib for GLIDE’s annual Christmas Eve meals. House of Prime Rib owner, Joe Betz, shares, “It’s a family tradition for the Betz’s. We see how it goes to the right places, and it makes you feel

GLIDE’s Annual Asian Chefs Association (ACA) lucheon is underway! The Asian Chefs Association and Chinese American Community Foundation are hosting this year’s event, part of the ACA’s Chefs Without Borders Holiday Lunch and Dinner. Award-winning chefs and over 100 Asian American community volunteers have come together to serve a free lunch and dinner to the GLIDE community.

GLIDE’s Daily Free Meals Program is hard at work planning dinner for an anticipated 5,000 guests on Thanksgiving this Thursday. Our Meals Program, in collaboration with staff and hundreds of volunteers, will prepare hundreds of turkeys and hams, 1,500 pounds of potatoes, 950 pounds of fresh veggies, 312 gallons of stuffing, and a variety of

What are your earliest food memories? We recently sat down with James H., Daily Free Meals Program Expeditor to find out what sharing a meal means to him. What is your earliest memory around sharing food? When I was nine or ten my grandmother had a barbecue. Some strangers walked by and she offered them

by Patrick Ciccarelli, CEO of Varsity Technologies When I moved to San Francisco 20 years ago, I knew I had to check out GLIDE and explore their operation. During my visit it seemed like everyone I met asked if I had attended the celebration at GLIDE church. Not wanting to miss out I went to

By: Lindsay Schauer (@SchauerTime) About me: I’ve worked at Twitter since January 2010 on Twitter’s user support team, and spend a good part of my time working on company culture and values projects. When Twitter began to think about moving to mid-Market more than a year ago, many of us were eager to get involved

by Ben Lintschinger, Volunteer Program Coordinator Back in April of 2010, a 17 year old high school student named Olivia “Liv” McFarlane visited GLIDE from Australia and took back with her an infectious idea on how to help her community. “I started up a program where people donate toiletries and my team of 4 girls