10 impactful stories you made possible in 2023

Happy new year! Although 2023 was a year of changes and urgent demand, YOU made a tremendous impact on the community all year long! We’ve rounded up 10 stories from our blog that show the challenges you rose to and the key moments of support that you helped make possible.

1. Farm Bill 2023: Advocating to Strengthen our Safety Net

We joined hundreds of farmers, ranchers and agricultural workers from all over California to advocate for Farm Bill provisions that will bolster federal nutrition programs, including SNAP. We’re continuing our Farm Bill advocacy in 2024 – check out this post to learn why this bill remains so important.

2. Emergency Allotments Have Expired – What it Means for the Food Bank

Early in the year we received the devastating news that emergency food aid put in place during the pandemic had come to an end. In this post, we explored what these changes would mean for our neighbors, and why CalFresh is such an important tool in the fight against hunger. While the end of these benefits has been incredibly difficult for our neighbors, you have ensured they can rely on the Food Bank to help fill in the gaps.

3. Helping Our Partners Grow: Our Biggest Round of Granting Yet

Thanks to you, we funded big-ticket items last year through our Agency Enhancement Grants! With new trucks, refrigeration units, building improvements and other enhancements we increased the amount of perishable and fresh foods our partners serve and extended service to underserved communities.

4. Food on Tables, Not in Landfills

Every year our Grocery Recovery Program “rescues” about 6.5 millions pounds of food from landfills and gets it to those who need it most. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at how the process helps our food-insecure neighbors and the planet!

5. What’s on the Food Bank’s Hunger-Fighting Agenda for 2023

It was exciting to share our 2023 Legislating Agenda, the list of bills and funding requests we supported to improve food access at the local, state and federal level. We’re proud to say that many of these policies have since become reality, and will improve food security for our neighbors.

6. Food Bank Advocacy Team and CAP Advocates Take D.C.

A first for the Food Bank! Two of our Community Advocacy Partners joined the Food Bank’s Advocacy Team at a three-day conference in Washington, D.C., followed by a productive day of advocacy on Capitol Hill.

7. Cans Across America: How a Cross-Country Partnership is Helping us Source Food

Our volunteers tackled a large, unusual project last year, labeling thousands of cans of corn and green beans that were shipped from our friends at the Northern Illinois Food Bank. A great example of teamwork – from across the country to here at our warehouses!

8. Making Change Together: A One-Year Update on our Food Bank Strategic Plan

In spring of 2022 we unveiled our three-year strategic plan, a guide to greatly reduce hunger in our counties and create lasting, positive change in our community. A lot has changed since then! Here’s an update on what you helped us accomplish in our first year, and the steps we’re taking to meet our goals.

9. Keeping Food Flowing: Our Warehouses Get an Upgrade

As the number of neighbors who need us continued to grow last year, we were excited to upgrade and modernize our warehouses to ensure we’re using your support as efficiently as possible. We installed technology upgrades that make it easier to plan, purchase and track food, avoid waste and continue staying ready to help our neighbors as needed.

10. Homegrown Partnerships

Last year we stepped up the amount of locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables we’re able to offer our neighbors by partnering with five small Solano County farms. Here’s a look at how these partnerships work and how they benefit our community and the environment.

We hope you enjoyed a look back at 2023! Visit our blog any time – you’ll find more articles like the ones above, along with recipes, information about our agency partners and much more.