Greetings!

Welcome Friends & Supporters! 

Many of us in the Baby Boomer generation have parents who grew up on family farms.  Family farms were common then, sprinkled around the countryside like a patchwork quilt, even in areas that are largely paved now and populated by homes, factories, shopping malls, and theme parks.  Everyone on the farm got up early - no days off because cows need to be milked and animals need to be fed.  You still see some of the old farmhouses framed by the modern noise and speed of freeways, or expansive vineyards, orchards, and row crops.  They remind us of a time now pretty much gone.

A Food Bank is kind of like the old family farm.  While we don't grow the food, we harvest it from wherever we can, by gleaning, rescuing, accepting donations, and trying to raise the money that allows us to feed our family - not a family of four, but of 44,000 in our county. We don't sell our produce and goods, but make it available to those who cannot afford to provide it for themselves on a consistent basis.  It's a big job, and it takes lots of farmhands.  That would be our hundreds of volunteers and donors.  Every day you get up and have to do the chores - no rest for hunger.  We can't dabble in it, because people suffer and children are hurt by hunger and its affect on their developing minds and bodies.  We probably make our volunteers and donors groan - I know we do, sometimes.  But we proudly invite you to work with us, and certainly understand if you need to take a break once in a while.  Thank you for being there.  Maybe it helps to think back to a more pastoral time and know that you're helping our community to take care of themselves and their own.    

Carl Hansen, Executive Director 

Food Bank Coalition of SLO County

2011 need was the highest ever. 

1 in 6 reach out for help. 

400,000 incidents of service were reported in 2011. 

Every $1 donated provides $10 worth of food.

Did you know that 47% of what we distribute is fresh produce?