When Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties learned that nearly half of the food in grocery stores in America ends up in the trash, it knew it had to take action.  Food that is close to expiration or cosmetically-challenged may not be suitable for retail shelves; however, the food is still wholesome and nutritious.  The Food Bank’s Grocery Rescue program is saving healthy food destined for the dumpster and sharing it with neighbors in need in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties.

Joe Messina, Store Manager of the Millbrae Lucky store adds, “We are happy we can help out the local community. We enjoy doing whatever we can to help those that need it most. There is no reason wholesome, edible food should go to waste. This is a great program and we are proud to be a part of it.”

The program is a partnership between local grocery retailers, the Food Bank, and partner agencies in the Second Harvest network. While the formal relationship was formed at the national and regional level with Target, Wal-Mart, and Save Mart Supermarkets, we’re seeing the “win-win” here in our community.  Grocery stores get excess product off of their hands while saving on garbage disposal fees and receiving a tax incentive and the food donations help Second Harvest diversify its menu, which also includes non-perishables from community drives and purchased food to ensure balanced offerings for local families.

Mary Watt from CALL Primrose in San Mateo County says, “We are so grateful to Save Mart and Lucky stores for the wonderful meat, dairy and other items that we receive as donations from them twice each week.  Our clients are so grateful to have a wide variety of items.  What a great partnership that keeps food from going to waste and instead gives it to those in need who can really use it.  Thanks, Lucky!”

Dry goods and bakery items form a majority of the rescued food, but recently the Food Bank has also received prized meat and dairy donations.  Meat is actually one of the easiest things to donate because it can be frozen immediately. What would happen to the food if it wasn’t rescued? Most likely it would decompose in landfills instead of being served on the tables of children, seniors, and families who desperately need it.

Joan Sanborn, Food Resources Representative at Second Harvest, says, “It’s our hope in the future for each store to donate to its fullest potential – everyone’s excited to continue expanding.” Volunteers are critical to the success of the program as they pick up the food, make sure it is handled properly, and get it safely stored to be handed out as soon as possible. Thanks to the partnership of local grocers, we look forward to continually growing the Food Rescue program to reduce food waste and increase the amount of high-quality food on the plates of local families.

Will McHenry, director of food procurement & distribution for the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank, sits near an internal window overlooking the organization’s vast warehouse in central San Diego.

McHenry recollects the genesis of the Food Bank’s relationship with Vons, part of the Safeway family of supermarkets. “We established a formal partnership with Vons in 2007 right before the recession hit,” says McHenry. “It couldn’t have been better timing because Vons has been one of our biggest supporters over the past five years, during a period of severely heightened need in our community.”

Since 2007, Vons has donated 3.2 million pounds of food to the Food Bank and collected nearly 900,000 pounds more through in-store food drives. In total, Vons is responsible for donating more than 4.1 million pounds of food to the Food Bank which is currently feeding, on average, more than 350,000 people per month in communities throughout San Diego County.

“They donate top quality food which happens to be near the expiration date or is in packaging that has cosmetic damage and can’t be sold,” continues McHenry. “We are very grateful for the partnership. Vons has helped us feed thousands and thousands of people every month.”

Vons’ support for the Food Bank also includes sponsoring major countywide food drive campaigns held over the summer and holiday seasons. Lori Raya, president of the Vons division of Safeway explains, “We wanted to be innovative in this area. Last year, Vons offered pre-packed bags with the Food Bank’s ‘most needed food’ items next to the checkouts for $10 per bag. This made it so much easier for people to donate, and we were able to triple the amount of food collected for the Food Bank the first year we tried it.”

Asked why Vons has been such a big supporter of the Food Bank, Raya responds, “The economy has made life difficult for many San Diegans, and our company firmly believes in giving back to the community through a number of charitable causes. As a food retailer, the Food Bank’s mission is very closely aligned to our own which is why we are proud to be able to support the Food Bank’s important work, and we look forward to continuing our partnership for many years to come.”

At the end of each school year, children wait for the final bell to ring, which for them marks the beginning of summer vacation. Summer is an exciting time for children to enjoy playtime with friends, spend a week at camp, take a family vacation, or enjoy time at the pool.  But for many children who receive free and reduced-priced meals at school, summer can mean hunger. Just as learning does not end when school lets out, neither does a child’s need for good nutrition. In fact, 84% of children in Santa Barbara County who receive free or reduced lunches during the school year get nothing in the summer.

The Foodbank of Santa Barbara County provides free nutritious meals to low-income children during the summer as part of the USDA Summer Food Service Program, called Picnic in the Park. The healthy summer meals are served at various parks in the county.

This year the Foodbank partnered with Foods Co in Santa Maria to purchase a large amount of the food items that it prepared and served to the children.

“Robert Hamilton, the store manager and his staff were so helpful in getting our order placed and providing us with wonderful personal assistance,” said Robin Coutu, Food Sourcing and Purchasing Manager at the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County.

Robert is a local member of the community volunteering his time with children and sports. He has worked at the Santa Maria Foods Co store for 10 years and sees what the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County does for the community. He understands the need for food assistance with people that are in need from his own personal experience with working at the Foods Co.

Robert’s store also donates to the Foodbank’s Fresh Rescue Program with last year alone providing over 28,000 pounds of fresh food.

“Foods Co has been a wonderful partner and we hope to continue the relationship with them next year,” said Robin Coutu.

As one of North America’s largest grocery store chains, it is no surprise that Safeway is a leading contributor to hunger relief in the communities it serves.

For 36 years, Safeway has been working with Bay Area food banks to provide food for those in need. In 1976, the franchise provided a letter to stores endorsing and encouraging food donations to local food banks and their partners, and backed up that letter by providing a storage trailer and the first donated food to the fledgling food bank in Contra Costa County.

That first year, with Safeway’s help, Food Bank of Contra Costa & Solano Counties distributed 36,000 lbs of food.

Since then their partnership has grown to include the familiar Food Bank food drive barrels, which collected over 136,000 lbs in food donations from Safeway stores in Contra Costa County alone in 2011. There is even a little friendly competition among stores to see who can collect the most food and fill the most barrels. From the corporate level to the individual stores, Safeway saw that food banks depend on the community to ensure that they are able to meet the needs of people facing hunger throughout the Bay Area, where the need for food assistance has increased by 45% since 2008.

“Safeway has not only been a long-time sponsor of food drives and donates the trailers needed to store food drive donations,  but has also supported us on an operational level by serving on our Board of Directors,” explains Larry Sly, Executive Director of the Food Bank of Contra Costa & Solano Counties.

Recently the President of Safeway’s Northern California Operations Division spent the day at one of the Food Bank’s distribution sites sorting and distributing bags of food as part of a community service team from the University of San Francisco.  This is what Safeway employee Adrienne Sommer-Locey had to say about the day:  “Once the bags were created, we shifted gears and got ready to meet the people who would be receiving them.

“Some of us took the role of greeting people and distributing bags, others took a role of maintaining the bags and keeping the supply chain rolling,” she said. ” I was part of the latter group, but I got an opportunity to meet and talk to the recipients as well.  It felt good not just to do for others, but to be a part of a team working for a positive goal.”

Safeway’s commitment to hunger relief is a team effort that starts with the company’s leadership, continues with the employees, and multiplies with support from its customers.  “I really appreciate all that Safeway has done to give people the ability to help their neighbors in need,” says Sly.  “The Bay Area is a caring community and food banks are helping hundreds of thousands of people every month.  Thanks to Safeway and other community partners, we are making a difference.”

Hunger relief is a natural fit for Albertsons as one of America’s leading food retailers.

According to Lilia Rodriguez, External Communications Field Manager for Albertsons/So-Cal/IMV, Albertsons’ mission is to “help create healthy and thriving communities by supporting non-profit organizations.” The franchise has shown its commitment to that objective through the support the company has provided to food banks throughout the years.

With a keen understanding of community needs, Albertsons regularly donates meat, dairy and fresh produce- items that are imperative to a healthy diet- to programs such as Grocery Rescue operated by Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County.

Grocery Rescue is a unique and environmentally efficient program through which the Food Bank picks up nutritious food that has reached its sell-by date but is still safe for consumption. That food is then distributed to nearly 500 Orange County based agencies, including church pantries, shelters, group homes, and youth organizations.

Recognizing that it takes significant equipment to move that food, Albertsons has also provided partner organizations such as the Food Bank with donated fleet trucks to pick up food donations and deliver food to agencies, where it can be shared with people in need.

Food recovery is just one example of the company’s commitment to help build healthy communities and increase the distribution of food to struggling households.  For years, Albertsons stores have offered their space as drop off locations for food drives, making it more convenient for the community to give, too, and focusing on the months when the need for food donations is most critical- during the summer and the holidays.

In the past year, Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County received more than 25,000 pounds of food during seasonal food drives and more than 85,000 pounds of food was collected for the Food Bank in Girls Scouts and Boy Scouts of America’s annual Scouting for Food Drive at area Albertsons stores.

Ms. Rodriguez credits Albertsons’ mission as its reason for being so supportive of food banks, and feels the company has “demonstrated to our communities that we’re serious about fighting hunger.” In America’s most recent economic winter, more families are finding it harder to provide three meals a day. From grocery rescue programs to food drives, Albertsons continues to help build healthy and thriving communities, and food banks and those they serve are so very thankful for the company’s generosity and philanthropic efforts.

For Nate and Dawn Harrell, giving back to their community comes naturally.  Nate remembers the challenge his parents faced to feed him and his nine brothers and sisters, and they both worked through lean times earlier in own their careers.

Today, Nate and Dawn operate two independent Grocery Outlet locations, and are always eager to lend an important helping hand.  According to Nate, “We don’t say no to any organization.”

Before becoming franchisees, Nate and Dawn both worked as suppliers to the company. When a franchise opportunity arose in Salinas, they jumped on it, and as their store flourished that entrepreneurial spirit led to them to open a second location in Watsonville in late 2010.

Since then, they have been enthusiastic supporters of the Second Harvest Food Bank for Santa Cruz County, and support a number of other organizations as well.  Nate says, “We try to give a little to all organizations who ask for help.”

Nate and Dawn help out by donating a variety of products, particularly fresh foods that are no longer saleable, such as meat approaching its pull date, but also canned items and fresh produce.

The Food Bank in turn provides the items to its network of over 200 local non-profit organizations such as pantries, shelters and soup kitchens, who feed thousands of people each year.  “The soup kitchens love the frozen meats! They provide a great source of protein and variety” says Rebecca Henderson, Agency Relations Manager at the Food Bank.

Food banks are not only grateful for such support, it is a vital part of feeding needy people in every community.  At no time since the Great Depression have food banks had so many requests for assistance.

Since the recession began in 2008, Santa Cruz County has seen a 30% increase in the number of people seeking emergency food assistance, and today one in six Californians struggle to put food on the table and one in four children regularly don’t get enough to eat.   But in Santa Cruz County, fewer people will go to bed hungry thanks to Nate and Dawn and Grocery Outlet.