Ending hunger in Santa Barbara County is a collective effort. Much of the 9.7 million pounds of food housed and distributed annually by the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County comes from the food industry donations — from farmers, growers, packers, retailers, manufacturers and more.
Each year, the Foodbank acknowledges local farms and distributors that go above and beyond in their donations to the organization: the Hunger-Relief Champions.
This year’s Hunger-Relief Champions include Apio Produce Sales, Bonipak Packaging Co., Hollandia Produce, Innovative Produce, Jordano’s and Windset Farms.
The Foodbank would like to honor these businesses for investing in the health of their communities and working as true partners to end hunger.
“Our Hunger-Relief Champions are local farms and distributors who demonstrate extraordinary commitment to their local communities by donating more than 30,000 pounds to the Foodbank in a single year,” said Erik Talkin, Foodbank CEO. “The tremendous contributions from these partners enable us to build a food secure community — reaching youth, families and the community at large — and we honor them for their support.”
Donations from the Foodbank’s Hunger-Relief Champions account for nearly 25 percent of all donations annually and allow the organization to serve an additional 800,000 meals to 300 local nonprofit organizations and programs countywide each year.
The food received from these farms and distributors support many of Foodbank’s critical initiatives, including Feed the Future programs like the Kids Farmer’s Markets, Health Community Pantry and many more.
“Apio has a great passion for vegetables and the nutritional benefits they provide. At times we experience inventory surpluses or oversupply during the harvesting of crops,” said Sparky Locke, Apio vice president of Western Operations. “As it is our mission to ensure that nothing goes to waste, we are proud to be partners with the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County. This relationship allows us to deliver fresh vegetables locally and be a strong contributor to the health and wellness of the community.”
— Jennifer Zacharias is a publicist representing Foodbank of Santa Barbara County.