From day one, ACCFB has always been a community-powered project. This community is made up of thousands of dedicated individuals, including Ken Schmidt. In 1985, Ken led the effort for a group of 40 independent organizations to form The Food Bank Network of Alameda County, Inc., which four years later was renamed Alameda County Community Food Bank.
Ken was the Director of the Telegraph Community Center in Oakland, where in addition to his daily responsibilities, he created a “Free Store” for clothing exchange, recycled before it was mainstream, and advocated for affordable housing policies.
Ken passed away in 2022, but his legacy lives on. Leading up to the Food Bank’s 40th anniversary, his son, Aubie visited ACCFB to see what came of his dad’s original vision, and reflected on how Ken’s values and hard work show up in both where ACCFB is today, and in where it’s headed.
ACCFB: Do you have any memories of the early days of your dad working to create the Food Bank?
Aubie: In ‘85, I was nine years old. I spent many of my childhood afternoons riding in my dad’s pickup helping deliver boxes of food to churches, schools, and community buildings. I didn’t know what Dad was doing at the time, but in hindsight, all his efforts would eventually become the Food Bank.
ACCFB: What inspired your dad to do this work?
Aubie: My dad just had this concept of: “we have the technical capability of feeding everybody.” In our family, if you walked in the front door and you were hungry, you ate. Nobody should be hungry under our roof. He extended that past himself, that there’s no reason for people to be hungry and if somebody was hungry, then they should eat.
Oakland, October 1985
ACCFB: What would you like to make sure people know about your father’s legacy at the Food Bank?
Aubie: My dad was really focused on making sure people’s basic needs were fulfilled. In today’s society, we have five modern necessities: food, shelter, clothing, healthcare, and education. I really like how ACCFB is bridging local farms into the community. Programs where the Food Bank connects health and nutrition and reducing the cost of what people need really gets to the heart of solving the problem of food insecurity. Shrinking those gaps is one of the greatest things that we can do and is a natural extension of his vision.
ACCFB: What was it like to tour the Food Bank and see where it is now?
Aubie: Walking into the Food Bank for me was such a catharsis, seeing how so many people have implemented my father’s ideas and expanded on them. I’m so thankful for everyone who has contributed to making our community better and it means so much to me to see how he still touches so many in the world through your efforts. Improving our local community and now talking about how ACCFB can be a template, because it’s been so successful, and extending what the Food Bank has done to other regions or applying it to other aspects of nourishing people really means the world to me.
Every single day at the Food Bank, following in Ken’s footsteps, our hardworking community collaborates to nourish our neighbors and create sustainable ways to ensure everyone has what they need to thrive.
