Feeding Heroes
Veterans and active-duty military families make significant sacrifices. Access to nutritious food shouldn’t be one of them. With our Feeding Heroes program, we work with a network of partners that serve the military community to ensure they have the food they need.
According to the 2023 Military Economic Impact Report, more than 115,000 active-duty service men and women currently call San Diego home. Over 1.2 million San Diegans, 37% of our population, have direct ties to the military. Although the families of military members stationed in San Diego do not necessarily choose where they live, they do face the reality of the high cost of living.
Programs That Support Feeding Heroes
Mobile Pantry
Feeding San Diego’s Mobile Pantry Program is designed to overcome barriers to accessing nutritious food as a unique, traveling pantry. With 25 sites across northern and eastern San Diego County, the program meets rural residents at consistent, familiar locations in their communities, providing free, fresh produce and dry goods at monthly or twice monthly distributions. By removing barriers to access, such as paperwork, income requirements, and transportation, we can reach people facing hunger that other programs and agencies cannot. Mobile Pantries provide 23 pounds of healthy food to each household, with up to 16 pounds of fresh produce.
Produce Pantry
Access to fresh, affordable, nutritious food is critical to thriving communities, but processed food is often more expensive and harder to find. Feeding San Diego’s Produce Pantry Program aims to increase access to fresh produce. These distributions are in communities with barriers to fresh food access, such as transportation, limited budgets, lack of grocery stores, transitional living, unemployment, disability, and health issues. Every household receives approximately 24 pounds of fresh produce, comprised of four to six varieties of seasonal fruit and vegetables.
Agency Partners
Feeding San Diego works with nearly 370 community partners to distribute healthy food throughout San Diego County. Our agency partners include a range of nonprofits and organizations, including local charities, schools, faith communities, meal sites, and food pantries.
We work with agencies in various ways. For some, we provide food directly, while others benefit from direct partnerships with food donors like grocery stores.