Second Round of Agency Grants Further Increase Capacity

The second round of agency grants awarded $88,000 in funding to 19 partners. Grants were made possible by Walmart, Feeding San Diego and other partners. Grants were used to provide refrigeration, shelving, carts, bins, and other hard assets to increase perishable food storage and improve overall network capacity.  

The freezer that Catholic Charities Vista Food Resource Center’s received allowed the agency to store more than 1,200 pounds of meat per week in an organized manner. In fact, with the new equipment, the staff and volunteers are able label meats and rotate them more efficiently in order give out the older frozen products first, which was a challenge before. In addition, the shelving allows the agency to organize frozen items by category, providing improved varieties that are able to meet  clients’ needs more efficiently. 

Santee Food Bank’s new freezer immediately provided an improved capacity for rescuing, storing and rotating food. With the new equipment, the Santee Food Bank has been able to freeze as much as 480 pounds of bread at a time and extending the shelf life from 1 – 2 days to months, if needed.

Special Delivery San Diego received a new commercial refrigerator and new freezer that increased the  food pantry’s capacity by about 100% so that all pantry shoppers can be served with adequate amounts of food. Previously, some food had to be stored in small coolers which were very inconvenient and not efficient. In addition, there were days when food was run-out for pantry shoppers due to inadequate refrigerator and freezer space. The agency estimates that with the new double-door refrigerator and single-door freezer that it is able to provide 15 pounds extra of food on average each week per food pantry shopper. With the addition of three food pick-ups per week, the food pantry can accommodate the increasing need for food from its shoppers Monday through Thursday.

Thank you to Walmart and our other supporters for helping our partners increase capacity for the clients they serve.