For those Vanguard readers passionate about social issues, such as private sector efforts to address poverty and food insecurity, what follows is the Yolo Food Bank December newsletter. Following the appeals letter are a number of Food Bank community updates.
Here in Yolo County, most of us join in the tradition of giving holiday gifts to our friends and loved ones as a symbol of love and our gratitude. When we shop locally for these presents, we help to ensure a vibrant Yolo County economy for the coming year. But, what about the gifts of strong physical health, mental wellness and the nutrition needed to gain and sustain these human necessities throughout the year in our local communities?
A gift to Yolo Food Bank illuminates these short, cold days that are especially difficult for our most vulnerable neighbors: children, senior citizens, veterans, homeless and others who are among the nearly 20% of Yolo County residents who live in poverty. Many are barely surviving, but your gift at year’s end offers the opportunity for a thriving 2019. And, when we have given what we can so that everyone around us shares our blessings, we have elevated the common good, and created a community in which humanity prevails. Isn’t this the kind of Yolo County community to which we all aspire?
On a very practical level, we all know someone for whom it’s difficult to shop. A gift to Yolo Food Bank in his or her name sends a message of warmth and well-being at this season of gratitude and light. If you indicate your recipient’s name(s) and contact information at give.yolofoodbank.org, we will notify them of your generosity on their behalf. Additionally, even with the new Federal tax laws, your donation still may be advantageous to your State tax liability, and strategies such as charitable stacking, donor advised funds and qualified charitable distributions from your IRA may allow you to do well by doing good at this festive time of year.
To consult further about the best options to express your goodwill toward the men, women and children of Yolo County as 2018 comes to a close, please reach out to me at joy@yolofoodbank.org, or contact me via mobile phone at 530-383-1814.
Thank you for your tremendous support of Yolo Food Bank’s mission in 2018, and wishing you a healthy, happy holiday, free from hunger.
A Message From Executive Director Michael Bisch:
These are incredibly exciting times for your Food Bank. We are on the cusp of moving into our new food distribution and operations facility, pictured above in progress. The move is planned for March, less than three months from now.
We continue to make terrific progress in the $2.9 million Phase II of the $7.9 million End Hunger Yolo Campaign. Thanks to recent major gifts, more than $2.4 million now has been raised with two months left in the capital campaign to raise the remaining $500,000.
End Hunger Yolo is a campaign to end hunger and malnutrition in Yolo County by developing a 37,000 square foot, state-of-the-art, food distribution and operations facility at 233 Harter Avenue in Woodland that will enable us to triple our countywide distributions of nutritious food over time, particularly fresh produce.
You can make history by contributing to close the gap and make the potential for a more food secure Yolo County a reality!
Learn more HERE, and please contact me at michael@yolofoodbank.org to discuss donation opportunities.
Thank you to the 130 donors who made “Sharing Yolo’s Bounty” possible last month, ensuring full meal kits to supplement the holiday distribution turkeys provided by Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation.
The $37,500 goal was surpassed and 2,000 local families enjoyed holiday meals as a result. In addition to the generosity of so many individuals who gave from their hearts, corporate support specific to “Sharing Yolo’s Bounty” made a huge difference. Please share in our gratitude to:
- The Kăna Company – $5,000
- Nugget Markets – $5,000
- Suzanne Kimmel of First Street Real Estate – $2,000
- B-Z Bee Pollination – $1,000
- Wells Fargo Bank – $720
- KetMoRee Thai Restaurant – $500
Wishing a healthy, happy New Year to all who made meaningful gifts to extend the holiday spirit to the food insecure in our community this season.
Celebrating Our Volunteers
Earlier this month, volunteers from UC Davis Strategic Communications and Bayer CropScience in West Sacramento assisted with the elevated food sorting and packing needs that Yolo Food Bank experiences during the holiday season. During the week before Christmas, UC Davis sent 45 employees who contributed 45 hours, and 36 Bayer employees devoted 108 hours over the course of three days!
Volunteering at Yolo Food Bank is an enriching team-building activity for local employers of any size, as well as for school or faith-based groups and individuals looking to impact efforts to end hunger and malnutrition in Yolo County. Food distributions, rice-packing, harvesting, administrative work and special projects are among the year-round options. To learn more, click HERE, or contact Volunteer Coordinator Yasmin Frausto.
Partner Organization Highlights
The cold winter nights are here, and Yolo Food Bank has responded by welcoming the newly formed West Sacramento Winter Warming Shelter as a nonprofit partner. Initiated and led by our existing partner Mercy Coalition of West Sacramento, this rotating shelter hosts up to 20 homeless individuals, five nights per week at faith-based organizations in West Sacramento. The Food Bank’s participation ensures both dinner and breakfast, in addition to a place to sleep, to help keep participants healthy as they move in out of the cold.
To find out more about this collaboration, or any other of Yolo Food Bank’s nearly 70 nonprofit partner organizations throughout the county, please contact Agency Relations Coordinator Zane Hatfield by clicking his name, or visit our website. This kind of work in West Sacramento and elsewhere in Yolo County can be supported at give.yolofoodbank.org.
Yolo Grown is a unique Yolo Food Bank program, pairing farmers and seed companies to contract grow and donate local fresh produce specifically for our programs and food insecure recipients. Providing year-round access to produce especially is important during these winter months.
As part of the program, Say Hay Farms in Esparto has in recent weeks generously donated eggs and produce to our Eat Well Yolo and Kids Farmers Markets locations. The produce has included high quality rainbow chard, leeks, sweet potatoes, eggplant, okra and other items that rarely are available to Yolo Food Bank programs and the hungry people that we serve.
In addition, Gauchito Hill Farm in Brooks has been donating assorted squash to our programs through their relationship with Yolo Grown.
While Yolo Grown is made possible by a grant from the Yoche Dehe Wintun Nation, your gift at give.yolofoodbank.org allows for the expansion of the program. More information about Yolo Grown is available here.
