Demand for BEC's IFA services increased in 2020 during San Francisco's Shelter-In-Place mandate, when vulnerable populations in the City were strongly advised to stay home to avoid contracting the Coronavirus.

In addition BEC received referrals from other organizations in the South of Market and from the Excelsior, as food insecure food groups emerged as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; these groups include families with children whose heads of households are either unemployed or underemployed, and those who were hesitant to leave their homes due to the fear of contracting the virus.

Additional demand came from the unhoused Filipino community in San Francisco. BEC expanded its IFA program to address the emerging needs of the food insecure community by establishing the Supplemental Grocery Program (SGP).

SGP is a bi-weekly food distribution, which participants can access a bag of culturally-appropriate non-perishable groceries either by picking up from BEC or delivered by interns and volunteers from partner organizations.