Hunger is isolating for anyone, but especially to young people trying to figure out the world around them. For kids living with hunger, going back to school can mean going back to shame and embarrassment. Many students have to skip breakfast and/or don’t have enough food in their cupboards to pack a lunch, nor do they have the money to purchase a meal at school. The federal free-reduced lunch program provides a lifeline to these kids, but it’s not enough.

“You’re not yourself when you’re hungry,” explains a local high school senior and school pantry volunteer. “It’s tough to make decisions.”

The Food Bank has programs to specifically provide students from preschool through college with supplemental food to ensure everyone has a chance to thrive:

Food for Children

Once a month 580 children, ages four through six years old, receive a 30-pound box of nutritious high-protein food. The national program, WIC (the Federal Women, Infants, and Children program), refers qualifying families to the Food for Children program. The Food Bank created the program to fill the gap that can exist between children served under WIC and children served with lunch programs at schools.

Farm 2 Kids                                                                                                                        

Every week during the school year 10,000 children receive a three to five pound bag of produce to take home. To help children establish healthy eating habits, we partner with after school programs at elementary schools in low-income areas in eligible school districts.

School Pantry Program

The School Pantry Program provides nutritious, nonperishable food to students attending qualified low-income schools. Located on school grounds, the pantries offer middle school and high school students monthly access to groceries on an as-needed basis.  The students are able to take the food home with them. The goal is to ensure that these students get the fuel they need to succeed.  The program currently serves 1,490 students and their families a month.

College Pantry Program

We provide food and support to food pantries at six local community college and one 4-year university campuses. Most are open 5-days a week and enrolled students with a school ID can pick up free groceries at these little mini-markets. Students are able to pick out what food they want according to their personal dietary restrictions or food preferences.

We thank you for your continued support of the Food Bank. Together we are fueling growing bodies and minds this back to school season.

Originally posted in the Vacaville Reporter: The Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano believes that it’s good to think outside of the box; actually, we think outside cans and bags too. We recognize the value in packaged food. It is less complicated to transport, is convenient and has a longer shelf life. However, we also realize the importance of balancing diets with healthier options. That is why we are committed to providing people with fresh fruits and vegetables.

The data is clear, consuming fresh produce is vital for our health. It combats obesity and diabetes, improves well-being and is the natural way of getting vitamins and nutrients that the mind and body need. Unfortunately, fresh produce can be out of reach to those on a tight food budget.

In the early days of the Food Bank, donations of produce were a small part of our operation. We received fruit from backyard trees and received donations from a local produce market. We occasionally got donations of cabbage or cantaloupe from local fields. The produce was welcome, but it was random and was not a significant portion of the food we distributed.

Fast forward four decades and the Food Bank now provides people in need with over 10 million pounds of produce a year. In fact, we have two distribution programs that focus exclusively on getting fruits and vegetables to food-insecure community members.

The Food Bank’s Farm 2 Kids program works in conjunction with after-school programs to provide fresh produce to kids, even when school is out. Many children who receive free or discounted breakfasts and lunches during the school year have no choice but to skip meals during the summer break. Farm 2 Kids helps bridge that gap for thousands of school-aged children.

Last summer, we distributed over 176,000 pounds of fresh produce through our special Farm 2 Kids summer program. This summer we are continuing to build the program. We are making healthy fruits and vegetables available to over 5,900 kids each week, at 46 sites, in partnership with dozens of programs across Contra Costa and Solano counties.

In addition to receiving produce, the children are educated about the benefits of eating healthy. Not only are their growing bodies being nourished now, but healthy lifelong eating habits are being reinforced for their future.

The other program that focuses exclusively on distributing produce is the appropriately named Community Produce Program. We started it in 2013 and it quickly became our second largest distribution program. Fresh produce is distributed year-round using customized refrigerated trucks that serve as mobile farmers’ markets.

Today we have 55 Community Produce Program distribution sites that provide produce to people twice a month. Last year, through this program alone, we provided over three million pounds of fresh fruit and vegetables to low-income families. People of all ages, including children and seniors, benefit from this resource and receive produce that they otherwise might not afford.

The Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano believes fresh fruits and vegetables should not be considered a luxury. Our entire society benefits when everyone has access to healthy food. Together, we are not only fighting hunger, we are also strengthening the population’s overall health.