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Food Bank’s public statement regarding commitment to providing food for all

February 22, 2017 By Larry

In response to current uncertainty about possible changes to assistance programs, the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano’s Executive Director has released a public statement on the Food Bank’s commitment to provide food to anyone in need of assistance – regardless of their immigrant status. Read the full letter here. Please reiterate this message to anyone who expresses fear in coming to the Food Bank distribution and share it with any relevant community partners. Thank you for your support to end hunger, and please reach out with any questions you may have.

Congratulations to Vic and Fran Smith-Threads of Hope Honorees

December 19, 2016 By Jenny

Each December, Diablo Magazine’s annual Threads of Hope Awards recognize an amazing group of volunteers who go above and beyond to make the East Bay a better place.

We are thrilled the Food Bank’s long-time volunteers, Vic and Fran Smith were honored in their 2016 ceremony. We are thankful for their many years of service and the joy they bring to our warehouse workers, volunteers and of course, the children they help serve.

The article below was originally posted in Diablo Magazine’s December 2016 edition:

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Looking back, it’s the Easter baskets that Fran and Vic Smith remember most.

“We do them for the children,” says Fran, 90, a former pediatric nurse who later served as the preschool director at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Orinda for 30 years. “We do all this for the children.”

After a lifetime of volunteerism that has included such activities as sorting through donated books at the Orinda Library, building houses and playgrounds in remote Mexican villages, and boxing food for children at the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano, the Smiths light up when they talk about their Easter basket program. This year—their 10th making the colorful baskets for children in need—the Smiths assembled 100 baskets.

“The baskets are useful, too,” says Vic, 94. “The kids always get school supplies, and a toothbrush and toothpaste, as well as a chocolate bunny.”

This project is just a drop in the proverbial basket compared to the contribution the Smiths have made to the food bank during the past 15 years. Two to three Fridays each month, in a 32,000-square-foot warehouse in Concord, the Smiths have served as the heart and soul of the Food for Children “boxing team,” which assembles more than 700 boxes of food a month for children ages four to six.

“When it’s a choice between paying rent or buying food, families will go hungry to keep a roof over their heads,” says Sharon Zeppegno, manager of volunteer services at the food bank. “This program makes sure the children have something to eat. The Smiths understand that.”

Using an assembly-line process, the boxing team fills large cardboard boxes with nutritious, kid-friendly food—cereal, peanut butter, canned tuna, pasta and sauce, rice and beans—then the food bank staff distributes them at nine sites across two counties.

The Smiths have seen families receive their boxes. “I am so impressed with how the mothers share,” says Fran. “If there’s a food item their children are allergic to, like peanut butter, they’ll give their jar to someone else.”

A commitment to sharing has been the thread running through the Smiths’ 67 years of marriage. (They met on a blind date.) “For my 80th birthday, I gave myself a little present,” explains Fran. “My father passed away and left me some money. Vic and I used it to build a playground in Mexico.”

Recently, the Smiths wondered if they should slow down just a bit and talked about not volunteering at the food bank anymore. The members of their boxing team wouldn’t hear of it, declaring a “Fran and Vic Day” to discourage them from leaving. The Smiths decided to stay with it.

“That’s one of the reasons we continue,” says Fran. “We do it for the hugs.”

How you can help: Donations can be made to the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano at foodbankccs.org.

Food Bank stays steadfast in service

December 7, 2016 By Larry

Originally posted on the Vacaville Reporter: We have just had one of the most contentious elections I can remember. Many people believed strongly in the candidate they preferred and had little positive to say about their opponent. Political differences will always exist, as they always have, and people will always want to advance their point of view. What gives us hope today is that people on both sides say they believe in American democracy and are committed to working together for the good of the county.

Gerald Ford was president when the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano came into existence. We continued to feed people in need through the tenure of the next six Presidents, with three of them being Republicans and three of them being Democrats.

The Food Bank has been able to withstand the changing political tide over the last four decades because the reality is that the Food Bank receives very little government financial support and relies mainly on the local community for our funding. In fact, less than 10 percent of the annual budget is from government contributions.

With that said, our work is influenced by national efforts to address the needs of hungry people in our community. We speak with authority to our local elected officials that there are 190,000 people EACH MONTH in our area who need our help to obtain food.

We rely on our representatives to relay that message to Washington D.C. that we serve 1 in 8 of our community members and we can’t do it alone. The food distributed by the Food Bank to low-income children, seniors, individuals and families in need is in supplemental quantities.

For some, that’s enough to get by. However, others need additional assistance, which is why we advocate for public policy that helps assure everyone has access to adequate amounts of nutritious food.

We work with county governments to help increase participation in the CalFresh program, the first line of defense against hunger. We also have strong relationships with school districts and advocate for the continuation of the federally-assisted National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program. We want to do our part to ensure that low-income students get the meals they need to succeed and thrive to help the future generation.

While the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano — and Feeding America (our national network of food banks) — prepare to work with newly elected officials, we remain dedicated to meeting the needs of the hungry people we serve.

We encourage everyone to help create the community they want to live in — a place where no one has to go to bed hungry. If you’d like to donate to the Food Bank this holiday season, please visit foodbankccs.org/holidays.

Larry Sly, Executive Director, Honored with Lifetime Achievement Award

October 3, 2016 By Guest

Originally posted on Sustainable Contra Costa: For dedicating over forty years to feeding the hungry and being a model of sustainability in our local community, Food Bank Executive Director Larry Sly received this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award from Sustainable Contra Costa. Larry was presented with the award at the 2016 Leadership In Sustainability & Green Building Awards on September 21st, 2016.

Larry began his work at the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano soon after graduating from UC Berkeley in 1976, during the second year of its establishment. He was initially hired as a truck driver when the Food Bank’s warehouse was nothing more than a Safeway trailer in a church parking lot. Before long, the Food Bank’s leadership was transferred to his capable and generous hands. In his first year with the Food Bank, 36,000 pounds of food was distributed. Today, with Larry as the Executive Director, the Food Bank serves one in eight residents of Contra Costa and Solano counties. Twenty million pounds of food is now distributed each year, over half of which is fresh fruits and vegetables.

Seeking to both reduce food waste and feed hungry people, Larry ensures that produce that would otherwise go to waste is instead given to local families in need. He has developed an innovative Grocery Recovery Program where the Food Bank’s trucks and agencies pick up leftover food at local grocery stores that would otherwise be thrown away and then distribute it to people who need it.

In addition to diverting healthy food from agriculture and industry that would otherwise be discarded to those in need, Larry is also dedicated to sustainable business practices within the Food Bank. The Food Bank recycles all paper, plastic, aluminum, cardboard and plastic bags from food drives. We have installed solar panels on top of our large warehouse in Concord, reducing our electric bill by thousands of dollars each month. Energy is saved and excess funds are diverted to feeding more people.

Congratulations Larry for receiving this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award! It is well deserved.

Working To Reach All Children With Nutritional Meals

June 17, 2015 By Larry

Originally posted on The Vacaville Reporter: As some families are packing for their summer vacations, others are worried about how they are going to put enough food on the table for their children. During the school year, over 65,000 low-income children in Contra Costa and Solano counties receive free or subsidized lunches.

Students receive their mid-day meals through the National School Lunch Program. It is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and many schools have breakfast and snack programs as well.

These programs benefit children, parents and even teachers, as it is difficult to teach hungry students. Children (and adults) lack focus and energy when their bodies are not being fueled properly, making it hard to learn and retain information.

The USDA also runs the Summer Lunch Program, which provides funding and food so schools can continue providing lunch over the summer break. Unfortunately, in most districts, while there may be a Summer Lunch Program, there aren’t summer school programs in session to draw children to the school grounds.

The creative minds in each district’s food service program have come up with ways to continue providing food to hungry kids over the summer. Some schools have mobile food trucks that go to parks in low-income areas where children gather and they provide them with meals. Other schools provide meals at public libraries, where children often spend their summer days. School districts want to reach students at these common summertime gathering areas, so they can provide the children with healthy lunches. These methods help, but they aren’t reaching all the children in need.

One of the challenges that schools face is that, in some neighborhoods, parents do not want their children walking alone to a summer meal site. Because of USDA regulations, a parent that accompanies a child to a distribution site is not able to eat a meal. In many cases, if the child has a little sibling that is too young to attend school, they also have to go without food. In some cases, parents and siblings are not even allowed to sit with the student while the student eats their lunch. Obviously these regulations discourage, rather than encourage, participation in the Summer Lunch Program.

We all know how important it is for children to receive proper nutrition on a consistent basis. Their bodies and brains are developing and food is essential. Skipping meals on a regular basis can have long-term detrimental effects.

To encourage an increase in participation in the Summer Lunch Program, the Food Bank is working on a demonstration project this summer. It is funded by the Y&H Soda Foundation, an organization that supports nonprofit organizations committed to the well-being of the underserved. This project will allow us to pay for meals that parents and siblings eat when they bring their school-age child to a Summer Lunch Program site. If we can show that the Summer Lunch Program can be a positive family meal, we hope to initiate a broader discussion about the benefits Summer Lunch can give when we help provide food to families in need.

Drought A Source Of Concern For Food Bank Clients

May 26, 2015 By Larry

Originally posted on the Vacaville Reporter: Since the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano provides over ten million pounds of fresh produce each year to people in need, we are extremely concerned about the impact the drought is having, and will have, on our mission.

Not only is California’s water supply decreasing, but the cost of fuel is increasing. These two factors make for the perfect storm for a hike in the cost of providing healthy produce to people in need.

As members of the California Association of Food Banks, we have access to an enormous supply of fresh produce from the agricultural community.

Over the years, we have increased the amount of fresh fruit and vegetables that we provide to the point where it now accounts for more than half of our total annual pounds of food distributed.

Our Farm to Kids program brings produce to after-school programs in low-income schools.

Our Community Produce Program brings fresh produce to clinics, schools and churches in low-income communities throughout Solano and Contra Costa counties.

Produce is also available to the nearly 200 nonprofit agencies we partner with, so they can provide nutritional assistance to the people they serve.

On the positive side, we are still able to receive the fresh produce that we need. The California Association of Food Banks is able to offer us 10 to 12 different produce items on a consistent basis. But we constantly have to make choices about the food we receive, based on increasing costs that are often related to the drought.

When we began receiving produce, we had to match what alternative markets were paying, generally around five cents a pound. Many of our costs now begin at six to seven cents a pound. Some items can cost us 10 to 14 cents a pound. Celery, for instance, is now priced out of our range at 20 cents a pound.

Our ability to help people in our community is also impacted when fuel prices go up, as they are currently.

We are lucky that our warehouses are so close to agricultural resources, but we need to make choices about how far we are willing to transport certain items.

Apples are available to us for four to five cents a pound, but they must be transported from Yakima, Washington. In order to receive a 34,000-pound load of apples, it costs us nearly $1,300.

A 42,000-pound load of potatoes from Tulelake, Calif., costs more than $1,400 to ship. We have hard-working staff members who always take these factors into consideration when purchasing the produce we need.

We have built an effective system of food distribution that we are committed to maintaining, so we must continue to balance the rising cost of food and transportation.

We are encouraged that healthy produce is still available, but we know that we need to raise more money to offset these price increases. We are thankful for our generous donors who provide financial support.

Like us, they also believe that our entire society benefits when everyone has access to good nutrition.

Food Banks Across Region Prepare For Disasters

May 19, 2015 By Larry

Originally posted on the Vacaville Reporter: When we think about disaster response in California, we recognize the threat of fire, drought and tsunamis, but our main concern is earthquakes.

With the 6.0 magnitude Napa earthquake that took place last year, and the small earthquakes that have hit the area more recently, we are constantly being reminded that we need to be prepared. When we watch the news about the earthquakes in Nepal, we are reminded of the devastation these natural disasters can bring to a region.

This is why the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano is committed to preparing for the role we will play for any disaster in our community.

The first time local food banks responded to a major disaster was after the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. The food banks in the Bay Area banded together to help the food bank that was serving Watsonville. They were overwhelmed by the damage in their community. We had an incredible response from a generous community that enabled us to accept disaster donations from Feeding America, the national food bank network. We stored those donations for the people in Santa Cruz County and helped meter the flow into their food bank.

After Loma Prieta, with the support from the San Francisco Foundation, we worked with consultants to develop a comprehensive disaster plan for the Food Bank. We developed a business continuity plan to assure that the Food Bank can continue to provide service in our local community. But as we looked at this local plan, we realized that we needed to have a regional plan for disaster response in the Bay Area.

We had to think about where would we look for help if a disaster limited our ability to assist our local communities. We also needed to consider what we would do if the food bank in Alameda or San Francisco were not able to operate.

All of the food banks are already dealing with the crisis of hunger in local communities on a daily basis. The need for food will obviously get significantly worse where a disaster occurs, but the food banks in areas that escape harm will still need to meet the daily needs of feeding members in their communities.

The Bay Area food banks developed a memorandum of understanding among one another that outlines what we would do to assist each other when a disaster occurs. We also keep that commitment alive by continuing training for table top exercises to practice how our mutual support will play out.

There is no question that another major earthquake will happen in the Bay Area. Roads will be damaged, electrical and water systems disrupted and property damage will occur. From our experience with Loma Prieta and other disasters, we know that people pull together in time of need.

The Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano is prepared to help other Bay Area food banks when a disaster occurs, while we continue to help our local community too.

Thankful For Help At Thanksgiving And Throughout The Holidays

November 18, 2014 By Larry

Originally posted on The Vacaville Reporter: One in eight residents now relies on the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano and during the holidays we work with our more than 180 partner agencies to bring additional hope and relief to our neighbors struggling with hunger. This Thanksgiving and Holiday season we will provide food for over 14,000 meals and about 30,000 grocery baskets to your neighbors in need. Thanks to amazing community support through monetary donations and food drives, we can make the holidays more hopeful for children, families and seniors who struggle to put food on their tables.

We have a tradition going back longer than I can remember coordinating food drives with Safeway. Obviously, there is no better place to do a food drive than a grocery store. Years ago, Safeway let us place barrels in stores and we did all we could to urge people to donate. Other corporate sponsors helped us purchase colorful wraps to go around the barrels. We put the types of food we most wanted on the barrel wraps and on flyers. Volunteer groups passed the flyers out to shoppers as they went into the stores. Those efforts produced thousands of pounds of food donated by a generous community.

For the last five years, NBC Bay Area has partnered with Safeway to help stock the shelves of local food banks. In addition to providing on air promotion, the station enlists hundreds of volunteers – including NBC Bay Area anchors and reporters helping at their own neighborhood Safeway Stores –to encourage shoppers to donate food items. NBC Bay Area is once again teaming up with Safeway Stores for a one-day food drive on Saturday, November 22, kicking off a month-long effort to fight hunger with Bay Area Food Banks, a collaboration of seven food banks serving over 780,000 local residents each month. The “Help Us End Hunger” food drive will take place at 155 Safeway locations throughout the Bay Area making it easy for community members to participate and help feed their neighbors in need.

To make the donation process easier, a specially produced shopping bag filled with items that food banks need the most will be available for $10 at all local Safeway stores. Items include pasta and sauce, canned vegetables and important protein items like peanut butter and canned tuna. Once collected, the bags will be delivered to food banks for distribution to needy families. The bags will be available for Safeway shoppers to purchase now through December 25.

The holiday season is the time everyone can help their neighbors in need. NBC Bay Area, Safeway, Kiwanis clubs, scout troops, other community organizations and the entire community helps make a difference, each in their individual way.

We thank NBC Bay Area and Safeway for bringing attention to the severity of local hunger and for creating a simple way for anyone in our community to help a family in need. The Food Bank and our partners are feeding people in every neighborhood and you can donate to make a difference in the lives of people in your community.

Proof of Community Care is Clear in the Audit

September 16, 2014 By Larry

Originally posted in the Vacaville Reporter: In spite of what we think when we hear the word, having an audit done is not a negative thing. As a charitable organization, the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano knows we should have outside experts evaluate the way we manage our financial affairs. We want those we ask to give us food and money to know that we are doing the work they want to support. Our audits show community members that we are accomplishing the important work people want to see done.

As we are doing the final review of our audit for 2014, it is very helpful to me to look at what we have accomplished. We establish goals each year and June 30 is when we stop the clock and look at how we have done. In the last fiscal year, we distributed over 20 million pounds of food and half of those pounds were fresh produce. Our administrative and fund development costs are less than 4% of our budget. We have reason to be proud we are running an efficient organization that is meeting the needs of hungry people in our community.

But when I consider where the support comes from that makes our work possible, I am even more proud of the work we do. If I look at a random list of contacts I have had in the past few months, I see amazing community connections. We receive support from Rotary Clubs, Lions Clubs, Kiwanis Clubs, League of Women Voters, Valero, Shell, Tesoro, Chevron, Janssen, Safeway, Whole Foods, Genentech, and Walmart.

The Food Bank gets help from Solano and Contra Costa County employees, Contra Costa Bar Association (and a bunch of law firms), Realtors in Motion, the County Library, St. Mary’s College, Prophet, the Rossmoor Harvest Festival and St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church’s crab feed. Food, money and volunteers come from Stanley Middle School, Hercules Middle School, Valhalla School, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Pacific Service Credit Union, Bloomingdales and Forma Gym.

We also receive over half our financial support from individuals. Some people donate once a year, some people donate every month. People ask friends to give money to the Food Bank instead of buying them birthday or wedding gifts. Parents bring their children to the Food Bank warehouse so they can give us the money they raised in their neighborhood. There is a sense of community that comes from helping each other.

Our audit is a time we look at what we have done, and it shows me that we are part of a community that cares for their neighbors. When we put together efforts to provide food to those in need, we know that we can count on the strong support provided by our community. We are able to make a difference because we are part of a community that knows they can work with the Food Bank to get healthy food to their neighbors in need.

Community Members are Connected in a Variety of Ways to Our Efforts to Feed People

July 24, 2014 By Larry

Originally posted in The Vacaville Reporter: Nearly four decades ago, when I started working at the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano I didn’t realize how large a role the organization would play in the community. As the years have passed, the Food Bank has become a well-recognized resource for helping those in need in the community. Because of that recognition, people lend their support to our mission to end hunger.

Community members are connected in a variety of ways to our efforts to feed people. For those who have the time to do hands-on work, we ask volunteers to sort food, bag produce and assist with our remote distributions. Distributing nearly twenty million pounds of food means we need to address logistical issues, including trucking, food storage and running efficient distribution programs. For all these tasks, we depend on volunteers.

We also rely on volunteers to help us obtain the food we need. Food drives are organized year round because hunger exists year round. Our food drives range from the major effort organized by the National Association of Letter Carriers every May or the Boy Scouts each November to food collections done by individuals. Gardeners grow extra vegetables in their back yard to share with their neighbors in need. Businesses organize food collections as a way to give back to their community. We receive over a million pounds of food every year from a generous community, while we engage people in helping end hunger.

We are also lucky that a generous community helps us raise the money we need to distribute the food we gather. Gathering the support we need also goes from large to small, with the total effort being important to our work. We organize events like golf tournaments, motorcycle runs, or Uncorked, a food and wine afternoon at GV Cellars in Fairfield on August 3. Events like Uncorked bring people together to help the Food Bank, creating a sense of community around a common cause. Giving to charitable causes is an important part of many people’s lives, and they know the Food Bank plays an important role in improving our community.

Many people learn the habit of giving early in life. I talked to someone yesterday who shared the story of their nine year old daughter who sold wrist bands to her friends to raise money to buy food for the Food Bank. Her parents and grandparents matched the money she raised, helping her buy more food to bring to the Food Bank. When she brought the food to us, she saw how her donation became part of a bigger effort to help. Our work is possible because we connect with those in the community who want to see an end to hunger.

Water Situation Affects Fresh Fruits, Vegetable Availability for Those in Need

July 8, 2014 By Larry

Originally posted in The Vacaville Reporter: The drought we are currently experiencing raises serious questions about how we use a finite resource. The Mediterranean climate we enjoy means that we have long summers where no rain falls. In normal years, the snow that falls in the Sierra Nevada mountains has been our reservoir and provides the water we need in the summer. Much of the water is needed for agriculture because California has some of the most productive soil in the world. Our water system works well as long as snow falls in the mountains, but when a drought takes place, competition begins for the limited water available.

Residential consumers are urged to limit the amount of water they use. We may have green lawns and swimming pools, but many homes have drip irrigation, low-water landscaping, low-flow toilets and other technology to make effective use of the water they use. There are debates about how you compute the numbers, but urban water use is less than 20% of the total consumed in California. One third of the water used in the state goes for environmental purposes; making sure rivers have adequate fresh water to support a healthy environment. More than half the water the state consumes is used for agricultural purposes.

Residential consumers often wish that water could be saved in the agricultural and environmental areas. Some people argue that using “environmental” water to preserve fish should take second place to water for agriculture. The looming battle over the bypass tunnels proposed to move fresh water from rivers above the San Joaquin/Sacramento delta raises concerns about the impact that action would have on the environment of our local area. If we decide that environmental and urban uses are most important, what does that mean for agriculture?

Agriculture is a major part of California’s economy. California farms and ranches generate over $42 billion worth of revenue. Of that revenue, over $18 billion is food we export to other countries. Over 11% of the food produced in the United States comes from California, and over half the fruits, nuts and vegetables consumed in the United States are grown in California. Our climate and our water make a major contribution to California’s economy and the nation’s food supply.

The work of the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano is possible to a certain extent because we are located in California. Because food grown in California sometimes does not meet marketing standards, the Food Bank can reclaim that food, allowing us to provide fresh produce to people in need in our community. Because of the drought, some of the crops we received in past years are not available to us currently, plus everything we receive costs more. Fresh fruits and vegetable prices will go up an estimated 6% in the coming months according to the federal government. In order to get the food we need, we depend on agriculture, and agriculture depends on water. Difficult decisions need to be made both by government and at home as we decide how we can best use the water on which we all depend, so people of all income levels have access to fresh fruits and vegetables.

Aon Global Service Day at the Food Bank

June 30, 2014 By Guest

By Rachel A. Sisson of Aon Fire Protection Engineering Corporation: The San Ramon office of Aon eSolutions and Aon Fire Protection Engineering volunteered with the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano on June 12, 2014 as part of their Global Service Day. Global Service Day is Aon’s annual day of volunteerism where colleagues across the world unite in service to strengthen the diverse communities in which we live and work. This year, Aon’s efforts once again focused on empowering people and strengthening communities at risk through a wide variety of service projects, in support of hundreds of wonderful charitable partners. Approximately 9,000 Aon colleagues in 50 countries donated more than 30,000 hours of service on Global Service Day.

Here are some of the other projects Aon participated in on Global Day of Service.

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