Season of Sharing Fund provided some peace of mind to Raymond while he waited for veteran housing benefits to kick in.

Raymond Fiuren has been through a lot of physically and after eight surgeries he's still often in pain. He finds relief in his work at a San Rafael elementary school, where he's known as Mr. Ray.

When he found himself without a home, he was grateful for the Bay Area's uncommonly robust safety net for veterans. Season of Sharing Fund, which provided two months of rental assistance to Raymond, is proud to be a part of that system of care and support.

If you want to hear more profiles of help and hope, or if you want to find out how you can help neighbors in crisis, go to SeasonofSharing.org/podcast.

Marie Harvey and her cat Mel were able to leave an unhealthy situation and move into a new apartment thanks to rental deposit assistance from Season of Sharing Fund.

Marie was a pre-school before a series of back injuries left her in excuciating pain. She's making progress with her recovery in her new home — thankfully on the first floor — and she's hoping to get back to school soon.

If you want to hear more profiles of help and hope, or if you want to find out how you can help neighbors in crisis, go to SeasonofSharing.org/podcast.

As food insecurity grows, we'll talk with Troy Brunet, who receives food from the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank and volunteers for its Policy and Advocacy Coalition.

We also hear from Chris Padula, the head of philanthropy for the SF-Marin Food Bank, which currently has a waiting list of more than 7,000 families. Chris unpacks the catastophic impact of deep funding cuts at the national level and explains how the Season of Sharing Fund is helping meet the growing need by donating 15% of the money raised to food banks in each of the nine counties of the Bay Area.

If you want to hear more profiles of help and hope, or if you want to find out how you can help neighbors in crisis, go to SeasonofSharing.org/podcast.