LEAF 2013 - A Journey of Discovery!

Take the LEAF 2013 Food Survey

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Surveying the Civic Center Farmers' Market and Work at the SF Food Bank

We went to a farmers market with prepared surveys. We each got in our summer groups and chose a partner and asked people what is important about their food. We also gave people multiple choice questions and questions about them. Luke and I got 7 people including a sign. We also played bingo and we had to see where certain places were in the market and they were mostly questions about food. After that, our groups had 10$ to buy snacks for everyone. Then, we ate lunch.


We got back on the bus and went to the San Francisco food bank. We helped box up tomatoes and me, Ben, Gabe, Luke, and Sam all cruised and we finished very quickly. Then, we helped prepare 1 pound bags of brown rice and Ben and I scooped the rice in the bag to be weighed. Ben got 10 "Bingos" which means the scoop is exactly one pound. I got nine. Then we did a hunger simulation and we were all people with different budgets of money to spend per day and we had to find our family members and plan things out for the day.


I learned at the food bank, that 25,000 volunteers come to the food bank. a lot of people will get food! My favorite part of the trip was probably chucking tomatoes as fast as I could. Tomorrow's another day in the field!

~ Trey

Dear Leaf,

On our trip to the farmers market we surveyed some people that were nice and others were in a hurry. Then we played bingo and asked the sellers some questions, and they answered. My team got a blackout which was good. Later we went to the food bank and "CHANGED THE WORLD". We put tomatoes in boxes and put them in a stack, and that was pretty fun. It actually wasn't too much labor at all. Then we put rice in bags, that was more fun than putting tomatoes in boxes. These steps weren't to hard to remember: 1)get rice from bin and put in the bag. 2)measure it until it gets to one pound. 3)air it out and seal it. 4)put sticker on the bag and place in the box. All of us together did 1,700 pounds of rice. Finally we did a simulation. We were given a situation, and we had to figure out was our taxes, our $$dollars$$ per day, and what we made a year without taxes. We had choices to get food stamps, to got to the grocery store, and to go to the soup kitchen for one free meal. I got the money from the bank, got food stamps(it was worth $10), and we went to the grocery store.We bought a lot of unhealthy food because that was all we can afford. It was very stressful and I feel bad for the people who have to do this each day. I learned that 1 out of 4 people were hungry in San Francisco, and just a couple people can help hunger for an entire city. My opinion is that anybody can help a city or help America with just a little hard labor.

~ Anthony

On the day we were at the food bank and the farmer's market, I was impressed about how much food the food bank gives out to people in need. They give around 460,000,000 pounds a year. It was challenging to ask people to fill a survey. A lot of people I asked said no or walked away quickly. I learned about how many people are in need in food in California (around 1/4). I also learned about how many pounds of food are done in a day (around 100,000). I enjoyed helping the food bank. It was really fun.

~ Luke

Volunteering at the SF Food Bank

The heirloom tomatoes go from big box to small box, and these light-green and red fruita-veggies go to those one of those 50 million constantly searching for their next bit of sustenance, or one in four San Franciscans. The boxes pile up full of tomatoes and hands move swiftly as they fill up and are taped up to be given as a gift to the community. Children and adults efficiently help the food bank and save them a lot of money and time, and soon the giant cardboard boxes are empty. After a short break and drinks we come face to face with 100 lb. sacks of brown rice, and we turn commercial. Plastic bags are filled and weighed, and after much fine work with the scoop an exact 1 lb. of rice is pressed and heat sealed. The exact 16 oz. are tried to be found from the start, and “bingos” become a friendly competition. When we finish they say every single volunteer produced 1,700 bags in an hour, but we only did something like 40 in our group and we remain skeptical. But we did our job, and lives are brightened.

~ Ian

Day 3 @LEAF: Farmer’s Market & S.F. Food Bank           

At the Civic Center Farmer’s Market, we conducted a survey about the quality of your food. We got a ton of rejections but it was very fun. We also played Blackout Bingo and went shopping for snacks. Marvin and I got Chocolate Zucchini Bread. IT IS DELICIOUS!! It was a great experience to conduct a survey.           

Then, we went to the S.F. Food Bank to do some volunteer work. First, we packed tomatoes. My group was super-fast; WE WERE THE 1ST TO FINISH! We had break then went to package brown rice. It took a while to measure it but we completed a great amount of rice. My highlight of the day was probably trying all the yummy samples at the farmer’s market. I can’t wait for tomorrow!

~ Lauren

Today we went to the farmer's market and asked the customers to take our Food Matters Survey, most of them just ignored us but we ended up getting ten people. After the survey we did a farmer's market bingo game were we checked off the shops we found on the list and after that, the teams picked out different foods to buy and we all shared it. Then we had lunch and went to the Food Bank were we helped putting tomatoes in their boxes and putting rice in their bags. Then we ended the day by being paired up with a partner and playing a game at the Food Bank about foods.

~ Gabe

Today we went to the farmers market and surveyed people shopping there. After, we looked for something under five dollars for the whole group. After lunch we went to the food bank. I found out 1/4 people in SF cannot afford food for their families. We helped pack tomatoes and rice. And that was the exciting day!

~  Sam

Today I had lots of fun going to the civic center famers market I enjoyed trying to get people to do our survey and when they did it was so fun. I loved bonding with our groups. then when we went to the food bank I had lots of fun putting tomatoes in the boxes and the rice two it felt good to help other people, GO ROONEY!!!

~ Ben

In day 3 of leaf I learned that 2500 volunteers come to help every year. Also I learned that after 50min. we helped about 1/4 people in San Francisco that cant buy any groceries or food. In the farmers market my group interview about 20 people, and also we had free samples on melons and more.

~ Marvin

Today we went to the Farmer's Market and the San Francisco Food Bank. First, we had the opportunity to ask costumers at the Farmer's Market to take a survey about things that are important to them in the food they choose to purchase. It was a little bit hard to just go up to some random people you never met and ask them some questions.  We also got to choose a snack for everyone to share and we tried some blueberries. We all agreed they were very delicious, so that's what we chose. Next, we went to the San Francisco Food Bank. We helped them sort tomatoes and pack brown rice.  We also played a game called "Hunger 101". The game taught me how frustrating it is for families who are struggling to feed and take care of their families. I gained more knowledge about what exactly the Food Bank does and how important is for us to really know what is going on around in our community. I've had a fun and exciting experience so far!

     ~ Noelly


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