Great News – The Food Closet Continues!
The new lead partner organization for the Food Closet, taking up from the Downtown Streets Team, is the Peninsula Healthcare Connection (PHC), which will begin a new chapter for the Food Closet on November 1, 2025.
St. Mark’s contributes grocery, cash and supply donations to the Food Closet located at All Saints Church, Palo Alto.
The Food Closet provides food security to low-income and unhoused community members in the Palo Alto area. In 2025. The Food Closet is stocked primarily from Second Harvest, and augmented by Whole Foods, Safeway, businesses and churches.
More impending federal government cuts to food stamps are still on the way making the Food Closet’s service more important than ever. “Millions of Americans greeted the end of the government shutdown — and the resumption of food stamp benefits — with relief. But others are learning they could soon lose federal food aid permanently.The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program provides an average of $6 per day for nearly 42 million people, roughly 40 percent of whom are children. Under the new law, parents and older Americans will be required to meet stricter work requirements, and states eventually will have to share in the cost of SNAP benefits,which could force further program cuts, Tens of thousands of legal immigrants will also lose access to the program under the law.” (Politico – Nov. 2025)
Donate at St. Mark’s
You can donate items by bringing them to St. Mark’s and leaving them in the baskets under the Outreach Table.
Most Needed Items:
Protein products/canned meats: corned beef, spam, Vienna sausages, roast beef, Spaghetti-os, ravioli, beef tamales
15 oz. cans of whole corn, beets, diced tomatoes, mixed veggies
Hearty soups including ramen noodles
Hot chocolate in packets
Peanut butter (not organic please)
Jams & jellies
Non Food Items:
Grocery bags – brown paper with handles
Ziploc sandwich size bags
Paper towels
Rubber bands
Donate Directly to the Food Closet
Donate Directly to the Food Closet
The address and hours are:
425 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto
M, T, W, F: 9 am-2:30 pm
Thursday: 9 am to 2:30 pm
(except 12 pm to 1 pm when closed for staff meeting)
.
Access is via the blue side door that opens onto Hamilton Street. Please call ahead to (650) 325-3663 to let them know you are coming. Please do not drop off food after hours – it brings up a variety of concerns as people often congregate unsafely after hours to go through the food.
Donate Online
Many people have asked how to help with donation of funds, in addition to donation of food. If you would like to donate to the Food Closet online, please click here and scroll to Donate, then include “Food Closet” in the comments box.
Donate by Check:
Please send your check to Peninsula Healthcare Connection at 33 Encina Avenue, #103, Palo Alto, California 94301. Please stipulate that the donation should be routed to THE FOOD CLOSET in the memo section.