By Michael Bisch
With nearly 20% of Yolo County residents living in poverty and even more who are food insecure, Thanksgiving would be in jeopardy for 52,000 children, seniors and families were it not for the Yolo Food Bank and its food distribution network. Your Food Bank works with nonprofit and other partners throughout Yolo County each year to ensure that all families in need receive the food necessary to prepare and share in the tradition of a Thanksgiving meal.
Thanks to the dedication of lead sponsor Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, and the support of many individuals and businesses for the “Sharing Yolo’s Bounty” initiative, 2,000 Thanksgiving meal kits will be distributed at 10 locations throughout Yolo County beginning this week. Each meal kit will include either a turkey or a turkey gift card to a local grocery store, an assortment of fresh seasonal produce and other classic Thanksgiving “fixings” to offer sustenance and comfort during this season of generosity and gratitude.
Your Food Bank is still short of the goal of fully funding the “Sharing Yolo’s Bounty” initiative to ensure all Yolo County families can enjoy a Thanksgiving meal. May we count upon your support to increase our reach to meet the full community need this year? Whether a gift of $5,000 to feed 100 families, $500 to provide for 10 families or an additional contribution of $50 to ensure that one less family will face empty plates this Thanksgiving, your generosity will add not just sustenance, but also spirit to another family’s holiday…and likely your own, as well.
What better time than Thanksgiving to provide ALL Yolo County families with the opportunity not just to survive, but to thrive! Please “Share Yolo’s Bounty” throughout the County this holiday season by donating here: http://www.mightycause.com/story/Yolofamily
Thanksgiving meal kit distribution locations:
- Clarksburg
- When: Friday, November 16, 2018 – 10:00 a.m.
- Distribution details:
- Only Clarksburg residents will be served
- Pre-registration is required for this site
- Please call Yolo County Children’s Alliance for more information: (530) 902-6850
- Dunnigan
- When: Wednesday, November 14, 2018 – 4:00 p.m.
- Distribution details
- Only Dunnigan residents will be served
- Pre-registration is required for this site
- Please call Family Action Center of Colusa County for more information: (530) 476-0822
- Davis
- When: Saturday, November 17, 2018 – 8:00 a.m.
- Where: Pole Line Road Baptist Church – 770 Pole Line Road Davis, CA 95618
- Distribution details:
- Only Davis residents will be served
- Meals will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis
- Individuals must be present to receive a meal kit
- Places in line cannot be held or reserved
- Please call Yolo Food Bank for more information: (530) 668-0690
- Esparto (also serving Brooks, Capay, Esparto, Guinda and Rumsey)
- When: Friday, November 16, 2018 – 10:00 a.m.
- Distribution details
- This site will only serve residents of the following communities: Brooks, Capay, Esparto, Guinda and Rumsey
- Pre-registration is required for this site
- Please call RISE, Inc. for more information: (530) 787-4110
- Madison
- When: Thursday, November 15, 2018 – 4:00 p.m.
- Distribution details
- Only Madison residents will be served
- Pre-registration is required for this site
- Please call RISE, Inc. for more information: (530) 668-0955
- Knights Landing
- When: Thursday, November 15, 2018 – 9:00AM
- Distribution details
- Only Knights Landing residents will be served
- Pre-registration is required for this site
- Please call Empower Yolo for more information: (530) 735-1776 x102
- West Sacramento
- When: Saturday, November 17, 2018 – 8:00 a.m.
- Distribution details:
- Only West Sacramento residents will be served
- Pre-registration is required for this site
- Please call Yolo County Children’s Alliance for more information: (916) 572-0560
- Winters
- When: Friday, November 16, 2018 – 10:00 a.m.
- Distribution details:
- Only Winters residents will be served
- Pre-registration is required for this site
- Please call RISE, Inc. for more information: (530) 794-6000
- Woodland
- When: Saturday, November 17, 2018 – 8:00 a.m.
- Where: 233 Harter Avenue Woodland, CA 95776
- Distribution details:
- Only Woodland residents will be served
- Meals will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis
- Individuals must be present to receive a meal kit
- Places in line cannot be held or reserved
- Please call Yolo Food Bank for more information: (530) 668-0690
- Yolo (also serving Zamora)
- When: Thursday, November 15, 2018 – 1:00 p.m.
- Distribution details
- Only Yolo and Zamora residents will be served
- Pre-registration is required for this site
- Please call the Center for Families for more information: (530) 406-7221
Together with a network of nearly 200 nonprofit organizations and other partners, Yolo Food Bank serves the needs of individuals in 19,000 Yolo County households every month. To accomplish this, the Food Bank moves more than four million pounds of food annually countywide in pursuit of its mission to end hunger and malnutrition. Funds, food and time are needed to sustain these efforts. To donate, volunteer or learn more, please visit www.yolofoodbank.org.
Michael Bisch is the Executive Director of Yolo Food Bank
Thank you for this!
As a family that has supported STEAC’s Thanksgiving efforts and adopting a family for Christmas (or, Winter Holidays, if you have that plug up your arse) for as long as I can remember, and more recently also contributing directly to Yolo Food Bank (they work in concert)… and that is just the financial piece during the holidays…
We also contribute to STEAC throughout the year, both financially, and working the food closet (~ 4 hours a week) throughout the year.
The need, financially, is exceeding donations (yes, even in Davis!)… a lot of food is donated, but still… there are other efforts… DCM… the inter-faith cold-weather shelter… Grace in Action… several others… many, but not all, “faith-based”… Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and others, including purely non-“faith-based”…
Consider getting involved, financially, and/or personally… Measure L, Measure M, Measure R, road condition, etc., all seem pathetically trivial to me, compared to the issues highlighted in this piece…
Basic human needs…
Thank you, Michael, for the timely piece…
Howard, thank you for your powerful response to Michael’s piece. Nearly 30% of Davis residents live in poverty (the highest poverty rate in Yolo County!), and approximately 25% of children enrolled in the DJUSD qualify for free or reduced price school lunches. People often assume that the statistics are high due to UC Davis student food insecurity, but the reality is that very few students are permanent residents of the City, and have children enrolled in the schools. It is not the image that many people have of Davis, but it is the reality. Whether a financial donation to support families at Thanksgiving at family.yolofoodbank.org, a general operational gift at give.yolofoodbank.org or time devoted to one or more of the many essential volunteer roles (see https://yolofoodbank.org/volunteer/), support for Yolo Food Bank supports an end to hunger and malnutrition in Yolo County. In Davis, Yolo Food Bank pursues this mission via more than 60 nonprofit organizations (such as STEAC, Davis Community Meals, Empower Yolo, Meals on Wheels, CommuniCare, etc.), food donors, program distribution partners and volunteer organizations. It is easy to feel frustrated or hopeless about the news around us, but, indeed, to provide nourishment for our fellow residents is the very basic and essential work that elevates the common good around us.