Mercy Brown Bag Program

 Just how much food will fit into a paper grocery bag? Volunteers with a popular Elder Care Alliance program can tell you: about 20 pounds.

For 40 years, the Mercy Brown Bag Program has filled sacks with nutritious groceries for Alameda County seniors in need. In one year, we distribute nearly 117,000 bags stuffed with close to 2 million pounds of food. Our team of about 500 senior volunteers donate more than 21,000 hours of their time to help sort, pack and deliver those bags each year.

Get Involved

We are always looking for volunteers to help distribute bags to homebound seniors, sort items and help at our 17 distribution sites weekly. If you are in the Bay Area and would like to join and volunteer, we accept individuals, groups and corporate events to help make sure that every senior in Alameda County has enough to eat.

Every dollar helps keep our Alameda County seniors food secure. Your simple gift can make a difference in the Bay Area.

  • $33 provides 5 bags of groceries to our senior community
  • $72 provides one household six months of food
  • $144 provides one year of food for a household
  • $629 provides the cost of one day of food for the entire program
  • $901 provides one month of fuel costs for our delivery truck

I’ve never had to get free food before, but I need Brown Bag to live. I have no money to buy food.CliffordMercy Brown Bag Recipient

Where to Begin

Contact Elder Care Alliance to learn more.

What are my options?

Is it the right time?

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