Food bank independence a plus for county
The organization formerly known as Community Pantry has changed
affiliations to become independent of Second Harvest in a move that
stands to offer the group, now called Community Food Bank of San
Benito County, better access to outside funding and a more locally
branded image.
Food bank independence a plus for county
The organization formerly known as Community Pantry has changed affiliations to become independent of Second Harvest in a move that stands to offer the group, now called Community Food Bank of San Benito County, better access to outside funding and a more locally branded image.
Though some formalities are still necessary, the organization’s board in January made the call to become independent of Second Harvest, which serves several Central Coast communities. That’s when leaders deemed the Community Food Bank had reached the necessary level of service and had enough storage capacity for the county’s organization to go solo.
Last month, for instance, it served 5,262 clients and handed out 1,800 bags per week. Those kinds of numbers are the culmination of years of efforts to increase capacity and service levels, to reach a point where it was possible to break off from Second Harvest.
Expansion for the county’s primary food bank is a sign of growth and, more imminently, the difficult economic times leaving more and more families struggling to make ends meet. The added challenge in declaring independence, meanwhile, is that the group now will have to coordinate food drives and fundraisers without Second Harvest’s help.
A big one for the group is coming up Thursday, its annual “Dining Out, Helping Out” fundraiser dinner, and we encourage local residents to consider attending the event or otherwise donating to the worthwhile cause.
With the organization of such efforts centralized here, the independence has potential – if the food bank is successful in highlighting its local identity – to actually spur more enthusiasm in the community toward such donations.
We believe it will be helpful, especially during the winter season when families are most desperately in need. As a subsidiary of Second Harvest in the past, San Benito County did not appear to get the same attention as larger communities nearby that are closer to its Watsonville headquarters.
Most important, the nonprofit’s leaders believe the change will boost the local food bank’s prospects for grants, which can be a crucial funding stream for such organizations.
The bottom line is that this is a vitally important organization for the entire county and serves a necessary need for an upstanding community like ours – to give back to the needy and provide opportunities to get them back on their feet.
Food bank leaders deserve praise for making the bold change, for seeing that independence gives locals control and offers brighter prospects ahead.
