Aura Community Provides 80,000+ Meals to SF- Bay Area Families In Need

By Aura | June 22, 2020

Aura recently brought our San Francisco Bay Area Community together to make powerful memories through our Photos for Food Challenge. In exchange for donating to the San Francisco Marin Food Bank, we gifted donors porch portraits taken by professional photographers. Both Aura and the Food Bank matched donations. The result? Together we raised $43,016, providing 86,032 meals to local families in need! 

In the spirit of reflecting on memories, we invited our Photos for Food Challenge donors to share their “quarantine stories” and how they’ve made memories during this moment in time.

Since being at home, my roommate and I have made dinner a kind of bonding thing. We take turns cooking and cleaning and have great conversations over meals. It reminds me of when I was growing up and my family would all sit down to dinner together. I’m enjoying having that bonding time again. 

- Willie Mae, Oakland CA

Well, here's a time in our lives we will all remember, a time when we were stripped of so many of the freedoms we take for granted and compelled to simply make do with what we had. For many of us, it was a time of intense emotion - fear, anxiety, frustration, gratitude, joy. As a family, we learned quickly to expect the wave, and to ride it without resistance. We learned to support and respect each other's down moments and make the most of the happy ones. When I think back to this time, I will see that it gave us the opportunity to really think about what we value, and to realize that our connections to friends and family are the most meaningful things in our lives. 

- Kaamna, San Francisco, CA

My favorite story is our quarantine ritual: joining neighbors at our windows 7pm nightly celebrating all Front Liners!  We are joyfully making thankful noise -- clanging of pans, whistles, cheering in their honor.  They are heroically risking their lives on a daily basis.  Both my son and my brother are out of state on the front lines and this is a way of connecting with them. Stay safe!!  We appreciate you more than you know. 

- Lauri, San Francisco, CA

My wife and I have become a lot closer to my brother and his wife during quarantine. They live in Italy, so it’s rare that we get to see or talk to them. Since Covid started, we've been doing weekly Zoom calls with them and other family members.  It’s a family tradition that I hope continues well past quarantine, and has taught me that sometimes slowing down, and reconnecting with family is really important. It’s easy to lose sight of that when you’re bouncing from one appointment or activity to the next. 

- Dan, Oakland, CA

When we started quarantine our twins were finishing up their senior year of high school. Like other students, they had to make a quick change to online learning, while making college decisions in an uncertain future. At the same time, I was leaving my job and returning to work at the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank. It was the right move for me, and I’m grateful to help our neighbors at this critical time. These are big changes in a tumultuous time, but we are moving forward as a family. 

-Rachel, San Francisco, CA