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Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County

Posted on: Monday, 26 September 2005, 18:00 CDT

By Anonymous

Feeding 220,000 hungry individuals in OC monthly

When you think of Orange County, what comes to mind - the Fox television show of the same name, Disneyland, the beaches, the high cost of housing, the overall affluence of the community? However, according to the 2000 census, there are 456,000 residents in Orange County at risk of missing meals sometime each month.

Since 1983, the Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County has served the area in its on-going efforts to eliminate hunger throughout the community. The Food Bank, through its 383 non-profit member agencies, currently feeds 220,000 individuals on a monthly basis.

The Food Bank has distributed more than 213 million pounds of food to our neighbors in need since 1983. For every dollar donated, through services and product, we are able to return 94.2 cents directly to the cause, thanks to the majority of food being donated plus some 11,000 volunteers providing 55% of our work force.

All of the above is by way of introducing YOU to our organization in hopes you will consider us as a viable candidate in the expansion of your charitable giving.

Non-denominational service to all

For the record, the Food Bank is an activity of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul (although we are non-denominational in all of our services). The Food Bank is also a member of America's Second Harvest network of 210 food banks across the United States. In addition, we are a member of the California Association of Food Banks.

Food Bank special programs

The primary work of the Food Bank is collecting and distributing food. The food is obtained from donations through food drives, manufacturers and distributors, supermarkets, restaurants, individuals and harvesting donor fields.

Some of our programs include:

* Mobile Pantry, which distributes 1.5 million pounds of produce and staple items directly into low-income neighborhoods. Each refrigerated truck delivery transports approximately 5,000 pounds of food.

* Kids Cafe serves nutritious after-school snacks and summertime meals to 1,500 at-risk children daily through 31 program sites and seeks to increase nutrition education program activities to all sites.

* Brown Bag supplies 2,300 seniors on low or fixed incomes with nutritious groceries twice a month at 28 sites

* Food Rescue provides hungry families with 300,000 pounds of prepared and perishable food through direct delivery. These foods are donated by caterers, hotels, amusement parks, restaurants and farmers markets and are picked up by refrigerated vehicles to maintain proper temperature in transit.

* Orange County Harvest custom plants, harvests and gleans 350,000-400,000 pounds of fresh produce from donor fields with the help of more than 10,000 students, clubs, families and corporate employee volunteers. Main donor fields include the Incredible Edible Park and Waterworks Field in Irvine and the Field of Greens in Santa Ana. We also work with classrooms and clubs on our Seed-to-Harvest project, which involves youth in the whole planting/growth/ harvesting cycle and community service.

* Food Drives produce more than a million pounds of food annually and is secured by the Food Bank through over 800 food drives. Participants include the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, corporations, schools, cities, the county, community service projects, service clubs, fairs, grocery store chains and the National Association of Letter Carriers.

For more information on how YOU can help, please call (714) 771- 1343 or visit our Web site, www.feedoc.org.

Copyright CBJ, L. P. Sep 12-Sep 18, 2005

Source: Orange County Business Journal

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