Brown Bag Outreach

What is Brown Bag Outreach?

Brown Bag Outreach (BBO) is a homeless outreach program started by the English Ministry of Full Gospel San Francisco Church. Started in September of 2017, BBO has faithfully prepared individual bag lunches and distributed them by foot to those in need every Saturday.

Our idea came from a documentary titled, Heroin(e). The documentary covered a lady by the name of Necia Freeman who started a brown bag ministry that she called, “Backpacks & Brown Bags.” We took her idea and made it our own in order to serve the homeless in our own neighborhood.

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What areas do you serve?

We currently follow a path that begins at our church in the Western Addition, continues down Golden Gate Ave. through Jefferson Square Park to Van Ness, and back to the church. We walk an average of 2 miles total from start to finish, and reach out to any homeless that we see on our path. Due to the transient nature of our friends, we do not always follow this exact route and may adjust depending on the time of the year.

How many do you serve?

We currently prepare 48 bag lunches for the somewhat 400 homeless in our San Francisco District 5 neighborhood. Some of our friends ask for more than one at a time, and we are happy to oblige! For our current route, we generally hand out every bag we prepared for each outreach. Though the number might seem small, our focus is more on building relationships than on feeding the masses. We have come to know of, and consider many, to be our personal friends and look forward to seeing each other weekly.

We are always looking for more help, so if you are interested come join us at our church at 11 AM every Saturday!

What goes in the bag?

Each brown bag contains God’s love, along with something to drink, an individually wrapped ham and cheese sandwich, a chip or snack, a piece of candy, a set of condiments, and napkins. Our lunches also include an open invitation to join us for service on Sunday at 10:30 AM.

If you would like a copy of our current list, please click here.

How can I help?

More than any physical donations or even money, we would love your time! If you would like to help us out, join us every Saturday, rain or shine, at 11 AM in our church cafateria located at 1480 Ellis Street.

If you would like to donate money online, please click here for our Go Fund Me page.

You can also donate money or supplies and clothing to us in person by dropping them off at our church. If you have a large donation, we will come pick it up! Contact us at (415) 545-8124 by calling or texting.

Finally, you can consider starting a Brown Bag Outreach at your local volunteer or other organization. Would you like to know how? We have a guide just for you! See below.

Can I start my own Brown Bag Outreach?

YES, you can! So glad you asked!

We have an online guide that walks you part by part and step by step through everything we do. Take it, and make it your own! You can also find the downloadable guide below in the Resources section.

Resources

Brown Bag Outreach Resources

General Resources on Homeless in SF