I'm Alex Bell getting to the point and
digging deeper into local issues, and today
we're talking about food banks because
for some people the pandemic
may feel like it's over,
but for our local food banks,
the increased need for help is high
and it's still a big issue because
emergency funding to help those
food banks is now disappearing.
I mean take a look at this one
local food bank that serves
Contra Costa and Solano counties.
They tell us that they're serving one
in six residents in their service area.
1/4 of those.
Served or children.
The Food Bank says that they
were seeing an unprecedented
increased need and food insecurity,
and typically they serve
178,000 people a month,
some months even seeing as
high as 300,000 people.
So to get to the point,
I sat down with Cassidy Bates with the
Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano,
to see how their food bank.
How do they plan on continuing to feed
so many people with a lot less money?
So Cassie, let's talk a little bit
about state funding because we
know that during you know COVID,
you guys saw numbers increase in terms
of how many people you're serving.
And then you also saw you
know funding increasing,
but now that covid's over all those
numbers are starting to change,
so you're seeing that funding going down.
But the need is still there.
I mean, how is your food bank?
How are you still going to
feed all these people?
Yeah, thank you for bringing that up.
You're exactly right.
We did see record funding come towards
the collective food bank network
throughout the state of California
in this last legislative cycle.
And as that funding begins to
sunset as we move out of COVID,
we really go back to our individual donors.
Currently, as it stands,
about 60% of our operating budget
is from individual donors,
so community members who give
to their food bank and we're
so grateful to our donors.
And that's really where
we will continue to turn.
As a lot of the need continues
to remain and it will for years
to come and government funding
simultaneously might dwindle.
And what is the reality of food
insecurity in your area? And how is
COVID really shifted that for you?
That's a great question,
because food and sink food
insecurity was definitely.
Hasn't prior to the COVID-19 pandemic,
but the factors that really perpetuate
and lead to food insecurity were really
deepened throughout the pandemic.
So prior to COVID,
we had about 178,000 individuals.
We were serving every single month,
and in addition to that,
we're now serving about a 40% increase and
how supply chain issues and
then inflation also impacted
your guys's operations.
I know you spoke earlier about gas,
you know, even getting gas in
the trucks has been an issue.
Yeah, absolutely.
So just as it's impacting
everyone in the community,
inflation supply chain increased gas prices.
It's affecting our clients,
especially those who are in some of
our more vulnerable demographics.
You know, a lot of individuals can't
afford the same food items if those food
items are increased in price by you know,
10% say it also is increasing
our cost of doing business.
You know, as you mentioned,
we are exceeding our gasoline
budget and we're not.
Even all the way through this fiscal year,
so just our cost of doing business
is heightened and the burden on
our clients to put food on the
table and meet their other basic
needs is affected as well.
Yeah, and what needs are you
anticipating to serve as we continue
through the years after COVID?
Yeah, that's a really great question.
I'm glad you brought it up because
we are anticipating this increased
need that we have begun serving
throughout the pandemic to be our
new baseline for years to come.
So we are not anticipating a
return to pre COVID numbers.
At least for the next two to five years.
So this new baseline we are intending
to serve it for years to come.
And what are some long term
solutions that you guys are looking
at to continue to feed people?
Yeah, well, I mean,
there's a few ways to answer that.
I mean, one is that we really are
looking to our advocacy and how we
can work together with community
members with lived experience.
Our elected officials,
whether that's on the county,
state or national levels to
really create systems change,
how can we look at the root causes of food?
Security in our region.
Why is it happening and how can
we really enhance our social
safety net programs to both meet
folks where they're at and do even
better at preventing individuals
from falling into food insecurity.
We're also looking at, you know.
Unfortunately,
California has a wildfire
season every single year,
and when that happens,
we do serve a lot of our partners up in
the North State and folks more locally
who are impacted by by wildfires.
So looking at how we can best be
there in those times of emergency.
As well,
this is a story that we
are continuing to follow,
and if you want to help or donate
to one of our local food banks,
we have a links on abc10.com
links that you can follow.