- Author: Brenda Altman
Recently, I donated a box of pears I had grown to the Concord location of the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano Counties. I was impressed with the Food Banks facility and operation. Did you know that they if installed solar panels on their Concord warehouse, thus saving thousands of dollars on overhead? Did you know that they serve 1 in 6 residents in the two counties? Did you know that over 50% of the food is fresh produce? Did you know that they partner with 260 local nonprofits?
The Federal Government used to be the safety net for people needing food. Now government programs have changed and there is no safety net. Organizations like the Food Bank are the safety net.
Master Gardeners can help by donating our extra veggies and fruits to the Food Bank. We can get organized and find out who has extra crops and when they will be ripe. We can find out if someone needs help getting those hard-to-reach apples. One dozen tomatoes may not be a lot but if another MG has another dozen plus some potatoes we could get together and deliver them to the Food Bank. Turn around on fresh food is within 48 hours so your food will not be wasted.
The Food Bank has two locations:
Fairfield 707-421-9777 2370 N. Watney Way (next to Jelly Belly) Bay 11 (marked for donations)
M-Thurs. 9 am -7 pm Fri-Sun 9 am-3 pm
Concord 925-675-7543 4010 Nelson Ave. (off Hwy 4)
M-Thurs. 9 am-7 pm Fri-Sun 9 am-3 pm
One of our goals as MGs is to inform people on how to eat healthily. The Food Bank delivers well-balanced healthy food to our neighbors next door.
This should be an annual ongoing project of the Master Gardeners. If you are interested in helping let me know. Below is a photo of the cool storage room for processing fresh foods.
Harvesting pears for the Food Bank. I filled this basket and then some.
Contact me if you want to help!
Brenda Altman
brendalaw@earthlink.net