Dole Packaged Foods President Brad Bartlett, (From left to right), Local PODS Moving & Storage Owner Steve Yapp, FOOD Share’s Karen Jensen, PODS Vice President of Regional Operations Al Jonas and FOOD Share President and CEO Bonnie Atmore. Courtesy photo.
VENTURA COUNTY — FOOD Share, Ventura County’s food bank and distribution network, scored a huge win for its annual Tackle Hunger campaign. The 2015-2016 campaign, which ran from October 2015 until Super Bowl Sunday, finished big by replenishing its warehouse shelves with more than 396,202 pounds of food.
FOOD Share holds its yearly Tackle Hunger campaign during its critical time of the year when the community’s support is most needed to help feed the 74,500 people the regional food bank helps each month. This year, FOOD Share’s goal was to raise 150,000 pounds of food.
“The fact that we more than doubled our goal this year is astonishing,” stated Bonnie Atmore, president and CEO of FOOD Share. “Each year we are humbled and inspired by the growing support of our community who believe in our mission to end hunger for our neighbors and friends. We thank everyone who has joined us on this journey to make Ventura County a better and healthier place.”
In addition to meeting its goal for food donations, FOOD Share also received $194,093 in monetary donations during Tackle Hunger.
About FOOD Share: More than 35 years ago, eight citizens performed a good deed by distributing food to those who were in need underneath a Ventura bridge. The early philanthropic movement quickly formed into what is now Ventura County’s regional food bank, FOOD Share, which has grown from serving a few hundred hungry people per month to 74,500 people. Today, staff and volunteers distribute more than 10 million pounds of food annually from two warehouses; more than 180 partner agencies, which include neighborhood and church food distributions and soup kitchens; as well as hunger assistance programs. FOOD Share’s programs provide healthy nutrition and education to children, families and seniors, which include: Kids’ Farmers Market, SENIOR Share, Nutrition Education, Community Market, SoCal Gas CARE Program and more. A 501(c)3 non-profit organization, FOOD Share is a member of the Feeding America network, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization. For more information about FOOD Share, visit www.foodshare.com. Find us on Facebook and Twitter.