CA Food Banks thank State of CA for helping provide produce to food banks

We are grateful to Governor Newsom, Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross, and the State of California for unlocking $2M to provide essential fruits and vegetables to our food banks, and in turn to the community members that rely on them during the unprecedented hunger created by COVID-19.

The funds will be used to offset the costs of harvesting, transporting, maintaining freshness, and other expenses associated with getting fresh fruits and vegetables from farms to food banks throughout California.

The $2M from the State will be added to the $861,000 from the USDA and $600,000 received from an anonymous donor, furnishing our Farm to Family program with approximately $3.6M for produce deliveries. We are also incredibly grateful to Kat Taylor for pledging to secure $15M which will enable us to extend the amount of time we are able to reduce the cost of produce for food banks.

The Farm to Family program maintains long-lasting partnerships — and an increasing number of new ones — with the agriculture community that it will continue to rely on to donate produce to those in need. We are working to secure additional capacity for those food banks that may need it to properly store increased quantities of produce.

We echo the Governor’s call on community members and the philanthropic sector to continue to provide necessary funds to help keep our food banks stocked. Meeting our community’s need for food is crucial to preventing nutrition-related trips to our hospitals, mitigating a second public health crisis of hunger, and meeting the fundamental rights of Californians to live healthy and hunger-free lives.