SAN DIEGO (February 8, 2021) — Feeding San Diego, the county’s leading hunger relief and food rescue organization, has established a new mobile pantry in rural San Diego County that will provide much-needed assistance to the Iipay Nation and surrounding communities. Through its Mobile Pantry Program, the organization is able to extend its reach to predominantly rural areas in north and east San Diego County. This unique traveling pantry operation provides food distribution at sites that serve underserved populations, many of whom are low-income households, farmers, migrant workers, and seniors.
In December 2020, Feeding San Diego held an emergency distribution in Santa Ysabel in partnership with Indian Health Council and continued to work within the community to establish a regular distribution, the first of which will happen on February 9, 2021. Distributions will be held on the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month, starting Tuesday, February 9 from 10 to 11 a.m. at 110 ½ School House Canyon Road Santa Ysabel, CA 92070. Each distribution will serve 100 households.
“Our work in rural communities of San Diego County is increasingly important, given the COVID-19 crisis and the fact that these areas are often complete food deserts lacking access to nutritious, healthy foods,” said Dan Shea, Chief Executive Officer of Feeding San Diego. “By establishing this permanent mobile pantry, we are providing a lifeline to hundreds who are facing hunger.”
For the past several years, SDG&E has been a major supporter of Feeding San Diego’s Mobile Pantry Program and disaster response distributions. Recently, SDG&E introduced Feeding San Diego to the Indian Health Council to initiate disaster distributions associated with the wildfires, with a long-term plan to have them establish an ongoing Mobile Pantry site. The company funded the Mobile Pantry Program, which includes disaster response distributions, at $25,000.
"SDG&E is extremely proud of its long-standing partnership with Feeding San Diego and its commitment to addressing food insecurity, especially during times like these where people are struggling due to the pandemic," said Mitch Mitchell, Vice President of State Government Affairs and External Affairs at SDG&E. "The expansion of the Mobile Pantry program with the Indian Health Council, in addition to other programs we support like the Emergency Food Pantry, Sustainable Food Resources and the Backpack and School Pantry, are crucial to achieving greater access to important food resources.”
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ABOUT FEEDING SAN DIEGO
Feeding San Diego is a non-profit organization on a mission to connect every person facing hunger with nutritious meals by maximizing food rescue. Established in 2007, Feeding San Diego is the leading hunger-relief and food rescue organization in San Diego County and the only Feeding America affiliate in the region. Feeding San Diego provides more than 31.2 million meals every year to children, families, seniors, college students, military families, and veterans in partnership with a network of 320 local charities, schools, faith communities, meal sites, and food pantries. Last year, more than 92 percent of the food provided to the community was rescued. By diverting more than 27 million pounds of food from the landfill, Feeding San Diego reduced greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 25,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalent, which is comparable to taking 5,300 cars off the road for one year. To learn more about Feeding San Diego and its COVID-19 response, visit feedingsandiego.org.