SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- Tackle Hunger celebrated the 36th year of its Souper Bowl of Caring campaign Wednesday with a ribbon-cutting for a new food pantry in San Francisco. The True Hope Evangelical Ministries food pantry, located on Gilman Avenue, aims to provide healthy food access to one of the c ity's most underserved neighborhoods. The nationwide initiative has raised more than $220 million for local food charities since its launch in 1990. Led by Senior Pastor Dr. Arelious Walker, the new pantry will primarily serve residents of the Alice Griffith housing community in the Bayview district. The press conference and grand opening took place in the Bret Harte neighborhood. Organizers stated the goal of the facility is to ensure families have access to nutritious and balanced food options rather than just raising awareness. Fresh produce was available for guests to take home during the event. SF ‘March for Billionaires’ planned for Saturday raises eyebrows The opening included several partners, including Toys for Tots and the San Francisco African American Faith-Based Coalition. Eric Wright, a former San Francisco 49ers player and four-time Super Bowl champion, attended the event to support the neighborhood investment. Wright spoke about the importance of reinvesting economic value back into local communities. "Superbowl impacts a lot of economic value guess what? That's what we're doing putting back into the neighborhood so someday these going to do this for the neighborhood when they go get their degrees they will come back," Wright said. Charlene Brown, a representative of Neos Academy, brought local children to the ceremony to learn about community service. Neos Academy is a church that shares space with True Hope. "We have young children that are being raised in this community to have compassion to love and to grow up to be those who are givers not takers, to be inspired to be a positive impact in this community," Brown said. Among the children present was 8-year-old community member Makao Kain. "I felt a lot of emotions when they were talking because it's really sad to see that people can't eat and don't have a lot of food," Makao said. "And that a lot of people can die without food and that's really sad." James, a community organizer involved in the initiative, emphasized the tangible results of the food pantry. "When you can put your head on the pillow at night and know when you are the difference between a five-year-old eating and a five-year-old going hungry, you know you really accomplished something positive," James said. All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by KRON4. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat information into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by KRON4 staff before being published. ...read more read less