OC Food Bank
Our aim is to make a positive impact in people’s lives by helping them meet basic needs and strengthen their support system. The OC Food Bank works with nearly 400 local charities, soup kitchens, and community organizations to end hunger and malnutrition. The OC Food Bank provides donated food, USDA commodities, and purchased food to non-profit agencies in Orange County that serve low-income families and individuals. Annually, the OC Food Bank is able to distribute more than 20 million pounds of food.
The Orange County Food Bank warehouse is 58,000 square feet, with commercial refrigerators and freezers capable of handling 20 truckloads of perishable food. At the warehouse, volunteers receive and package about 26,000 boxes of food each month, for distribution to 50 sites across the county.
A few of the programs the OC Food Bank operates include:
- Food for Seniors Program: Our Commodity Supplemental Food Program provides nutrient-rich foods contained in a monthly food package to the low-income elderly (60+). CAPOC personnel distribute over 23,000 food boxes each month at 55 distribution sites in Orange, Los Angeles and Riverside Counties.
- Food Stamp Outreach (aka CalFresh): The Food Stamp program is a federal program designed to help people on limited budgets buy nutritious food. Community Action Partnership assists individuals in applying for food stamps. The Partnership is a lead agency for a county-wide collaborative to increase enrollment into the Food Stamp Program to alleviate hunger for the more than 400,000 individuals in the county who are at-risk of hunger.
- Emergency Food Assistance Program: The Emergency Food Assistance Program distributes United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) commodities to eligible low-income individuals and households. The program provides nutrition assistance to relieve situations of emergency and distress through the provision of food to the poor.
- Emergency Food and Shelter Program: The OC Food Bank receives funds for the purchase of food items not readily available through other sources. This includes food items purchased to meet the unique needs of homeless people and culturally appropriate food items purchased for Orange County’s large Southeast Asian population.
- Farm 2 Family: California grows more fruits and vegetables than any other state – yet for many low-income households, fresh produce is simply out of reach. Farm to Family bridges the gap between our state’s surplus produce and people in need. Farmers arrange to ship their surplus produce directly from the fields to our OC Food Bank. We then distribute the produce through our network of schools, churches, senior centers, soup kitchens, and other community venues.
- Donated Food Program: Food industry manufactures, wholesalers, distributors, and retailers donate food and personal care products to the OC Food Bank. Companies, schools, faith communities, and service organizations also conduct Food Drives collecting food for vulnerable families served by the OC Food Bank.
https://youtu.be/TCfdckAH3Fg
The Orange County Food Bank is a program of the Community Action Partnership of Orange County (CAPOC), a community-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The mission of CAPOC is to: “enhance the quality of life in Orange County by eliminating and preventing the causes and effects of poverty by mobilizing and directing resources to programs that assist, educate and promote self-sufficiency.” In support of this mission, the Orange County Food Bank supports many vital CAPOC programs, including the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), Food Stamp Outreach, and Farm 2 Kids.
For the past 50 years, Community Action Partnership of Orange County has worked to make a positive impact in people’s lives by helping them meet basic needs and strengthen the support systems that enable OC residents to move out of poverty. We have the ability to create positive economic change in the lives of low-income children, families, seniors, and veterans.