California Water Feeds Our Communities’ efforts delivers wealth of donated produce to FOOD Share

VENTURA, Calif. - Sept. 9, 2014 - PRLog -- California Water Feeds Our Communities, a coalition of farmers, food banks and water districts, is raising awareness on the far-reaching impacts the drought has had on California food banks. On Thursday, the organization caravanned more than 700,000-pounds of fresh produce in 17 semi-trucks to several food banks across the state. Ventura County’s FOOD Share received 30,000-pounds of this donation.

Fresno’s Community Food Bank President and CEO Andy Souza helped deliver the truckload of fruit on behalf of California Water Feeds Our Communities to the FOOD Share warehouse, where Assemblyman Jeff Gorell, R-Camarillo, FOOD Share President and CEO Bonnie Weigel, FOOD Share’s Board of Directors Vice Chairman Joe Schroder, and a team of volunteers were present to give thanks for the generous donation.

“We are ever-grateful to the wonderful team at California Water Feeds Our Communities for thinking of FOOD Share to receive this precious produce,” said Weigel. “These partnerships are essential to help other food banks get by during these trying times.”

During Souza’s visit to Ventura County’s regional food bank, Assemblyman Gorell appointed Souza with a certificate of recognition for the organization acknowledging its generous donations.

"Though we are working on a number of infrastructure projects and bills at the state level to bring relief to the hardships communities are experiencing because of the drought, they will not bring immediate relief for hunger insecure families throughout California,” explains Gorell. “Food banks are able to deliver immediate relief to these people. Thank goodness for organizations like California Water Feeds Our Communities who step and to bring so much additional food for those who need it most. Your commitment does not go unnoticed and is a tremendous impact here in Ventura County.”

In order to meet the growing demand of hunger insecure individuals in Ventura County, FOOD Share distributes more than 10 million-pounds of food per year through more than 180 pantry partners. Since taking the helm of FOOD Share in 2008, Weigel has forged partnerships with regional growers, agricultural leaders and farmers, who habitually donate a percentage of their crops to the food bank. This farm-fresh produce accounts for 60 percent of the food that is distributed to 74,500 individuals FOOD Share serves each month. In the last year, FOOD Share received 1 million-pounds less of produce from the agricultural community than it had in past years due to growers’ crops having less access to water, and as a result, a decrease in produce they’re able to give.

Following the California Water Feeds Our Communities donation at the Oxnard warehouse, Weigel arranged to have a FOOD Share truck deliver freshly picked tomatoes from Houweling’s Tomatoes, a regular donor of FOOD Share, to Fresno Community Food Bank.

Photo Cut Line: Bonnie Weigel, Assemblyman Jeff Gorell and Andy Souza. (High-res photo available upon request)

About FOOD Share:

More than 35 years ago, eight citizens performed a good deed by distributing food to those who were in need underneath a Ventura bridge. The early philanthropic movement quickly formed into what is now Ventura County’s regional food bank, FOOD Share, which has grown from serving a few hundred hungry people per month to 74,500 people. Today, staff and volunteers distribute more than 10 million pounds of food annually from its distribution site; more than 180 partner agencies, which include neighborhood and church food distributions and soup kitchens; as well as hunger assistance programs. FOOD Share’s programs provide healthy nutrition and education to children, families and seniors, which include: KIDS Share, SENIOR Share, Nutrition Education, Community Market, SoCal Gas CARE Program, ART Share and more. A 501(c)3 non-profit organization, FOOD Share is a member of the Feeding America network, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization. For more information about FOOD Share, visit www.foodshare.com. Find us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/FoodShareofVenturaCounty) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/FoodshareVC).