Interview by Susi Vogler; Article by Debra Chaplan

For over four decades, the Mercy Brown Bag Program has quietly supported more than 10,000 low-income seniors across Alameda County by providing free, healthy groceries each month. For the past three years, our neighbor Janice Roberts, whose passion for the community and dedication to service shine through every part of her work, has been at the helm of the Fruitvale-based organization.

“I have lived here for 26 years now, so I have a deep love of Grand Lake and the surrounding area,” Janice shares. “I love the Grand Lake Theater. I love walking in our neighborhood, our beautiful neighborhood. I love the diversity and urban savvy of Oakland. I’m super happy to still be here after all these years.”

Although she hadn’t worked with Mercy Brown Bag before being asked to lead the program in 2022, she quickly became its champion. “Mercy Brown Bag has been here for 43 years. We are based in the Fruitvale District at Mercy Retirement and Care Center. We were started by the senior residents at Mercy, working together with the Sisters of Mercy.”

What started as a grassroots effort—seniors rallying local businesses to donate groceries—has expanded into a county-wide movement. “Now we serve more than 10,000 acutely low-income seniors across Alameda County,” Janice explains. The program’s reach is impressive, with 80 distribution sites in 13 cities and a mobile grocery truck that feeds over 2,700 people each month. Overall, the program distributes two bags of groceries to 10,000 people monthly (including 5,000 in Oakland), nearly doubling its distribution numbers over the past five years.

Janice leads a dedicated team of 10 staff members, supported by 600 volunteers—90% of whom are seniors themselves. “We only serve people aged 60 and up. Our oldest client is 103. Our average age is 78, and our average income is just $1,068 a month. I believe that we help seniors remain housed by providing them with nutritious food so they can spend their limited funds on rent, utilities, and medicine,” she explains.

Janice notes that seniors are the fastest-growing segment of the unhoused. “Unlike what some people probably think, it’s not because they have addictions or even mental illnesses. It is because they are unfortunate in their circumstances, maybe they had a big medical bill or something happened to a family member, and that depletes their savings,” she says.

Each grocery bag Mercy distributes weighs about 20 pounds and is packed with fresh fruits, vegetables, and protein. “We spend a lot of our funding on protein because we want fresh protein in every bag,” Janice noted. “Roughly 19% of every bag is protein, and in the last year, 57% of each bag was fresh fruits and vegetables.”

The program has just opened its second warehouse, which is located on Chapman Avenue in East Oakland. “We are starting a volunteer group at the new facility on Wednesdays to help us sort the fresh fruits and vegetables that arrive in large vats from the food bank. Our volunteers sort them and pack them into individual crates to be sent to our 80 distribution sites across the county.” 

Janice’s background in marketing and tech has helped her modernize the program. “We have introduced hundreds of new processes in the last three years that enable us to be increasingly efficient and effective. In the last year and a half, we have implemented an inventory management system. Before I arrived, Mercy Brown Bag had never conducted a physical inventory. So that was a huge change for us.” The benefit of the tracking system is that it allows the program to determine exactly where all their food goes. “Since we need to account for that with funders and government agencies that are providing taxpayer dollars, we want to be meticulous on tracking who is getting this food to make sure we are serving only older adults qualified as low-income,” Janice explained.

Partnerships are essential to Mercy Brown Bag’s success. “The Alameda County Community Food Bank is our vital partner, and I can’t say enough good things about them. Most of our food comes from the USDA and Feeding America through the Food Bank. The county of Alameda partially funds us, as do some of the cities where we distribute food, and more and more, the program is gaining individual donors who hear about Mercy Brown Bag and want to help their neighbors in need.”

Refusing to divulge how many hours a day she regularly works, Janice says her days are spent solving new and ongoing challenges. “I spend my days trying to figure out how we are going to successfully feed the thousands of older adults in Alameda County who have unstable housing and limited incomes.”

The program’s volunteers are its lifeblood. Janice recalls, “We had a volunteer who passed away last year, I think she was 94. Her name was Hope, and in the end, she was living at Mercy Retirement, but prior to living at Mercy Retirement Center, she would take three buses three days a week to get to Mercy Brown Bag to volunteer.”

When the government shutdown unexpectedly halted monthly SNAP payments (food stamps), “36,000 seniors were suddenly at risk for hunger; many coming to use our services for the first time,” Janice said. Additionally, she mentioned that food donations decreased by 17% from October 2024 to October 2025. That’s a tough combination.

As the need increases, Janice remains hopeful. “I believe that our community will come together and support those who need us because they are truly our neighbors. And I think we’re going to be okay—but we’ll be okay together.”

Mercy Brown Bag is always seeking support—volunteers, financial donations, and community engagement. “For those who want to help their neighbors, this is a place where they can do so: volunteering, supporting us financially, or even hosting a food drive,” Janice suggests.

Janice Roberts’s story is one of compassion, innovation, and unwavering commitment. As she says, “It’s so odd that I stumbled upon Mercy Brown Bag, and I get to end my career in this amazing place. I just cannot think of a more deserving population other than maybe children. But we serve a very vulnerable population, and we’re committed to that.”

To learn more or get involved, during the holiday season or anytime during the year, check out the  Mercy Brown Bag Program‘s website.

Susi Vogler moved to the Grand Lake neighborhood in 2003, having spent most of her life in the East Bay. She recently earned the trail name “Snapchat” since she enjoys snapping photos of things that catch her eye, and her curiosity encourages chatting.