A Hopeful New Year Thanks To You

 

Thanks to our generous donors, we raised the funds to provide over 10.3 million meals this past holiday giving season! On top of that, in November and December, our amazing volunteers logged 8,255 hours, and food donors allowed us to rescue 4,004,400 pounds of high-quality surplus food before it went to waste.  

Despite the continued public health crisis, rising costs of nearly everything, and devastating stories of hunger within our community, we are starting 2022 hopeful because of this generosity.

With our network of almost 300 community partners, our team remains empowered to be a pillar of support for individuals in the community who face hunger.

New Year Goals

We have ambitious goals in 2022 that these funds will support. We are grateful to share our areas of focus over the next 12 months with you, our valued stakeholders:  

Establish and grow our Produce Pantry Program

Eating fruits and vegetables provides incredible health benefits. To encourage this, we are launching a Produce Pantry Program focused on distributing nutrient-rich produce to those we serve. We also intend to grow the program in 2022. 

Expand our School Pantry Program

The pandemic has upended how students learn and interact. The changes in students’ and families’ relationships with campuses have, in turn, created challenges for our longtime school pantry program. We are committed to working with local school districts to ensure they have the resources they need this year to address childhood hunger in our community.  

Grow our food rescue program in response to SB 1383 

A new law requires certain businesses to donate high-quality surplus food to hunger relief organizations rather than sending it to the landfill. This change is incredible news for people facing hunger and the environment. However, it will take work to build our agency rescue network to ensure we have the capacity to accept the increased food donations.  

Continue operating large-scale food distributions  

The Together Tour provides a lifeline for so many San Diegans throughout the county. In December 2021 alone, the large-scale free food distributions supported 7,355 households with fresh food. We will continue operating at 12 sites around the county throughout the year. 

We look forward to another year of working together to end hunger through food rescue.