Our Programs

Food 4 Thought

Eight years ago the staff at the Second Harvest Food Bank of San Joaquin and Stanislaus Counties in California, discussed how they might work to break the generational dependence on social services. One of the Food Bank's primary concerns was that in many non-wage-earning families, children were not seeing examples of the positive outcomes of hard work. In an effort to provide such examples the Food Bank launched the Food 4 Thought program.

Food 4 Thought reaches out to children through existing tutorial programs at local schools and community centers. The school children who participate in the program agree that in exchange for 8 hours per week spent at the tutoring program each child can take home a 15-18 pound bag of supplemental groceries that include everything from cereals to fruits and vegetables to dry goods. Four of these eight hours have to be spent in instructional activities, while the other four can be spent in recreational activities. As a result of the children's participation in the Food 4 Thought program, Second Harvest Food Bank of San Joaquin and Stanislaus Counties is able to provide food to needy families and give school children a tangible reward for their hard work. In addition to providing school children and their families with a bag of supplemental groceries the Food 4 Thought program encourages school children to participate in instructional tutorial programs giving them a chance at helping themselves do better in their academic career and thus giving each child a chance to enhance their own future.

The program has received great response from both school children and their parents. Currently there are 1,973 schoolchildren participating at 32 sites throughout San Joaquin County. School children talk about their satisfying experience of bringing a bag of food home and seeing the look on their siblings' faces. The response from parents has been great too.

"Parents love it. Imagine having two school children with each of them bringing home 15 pounds of food a week through their participation in the Food 4 Thought program. It really can stretch a paycheck further. Since the transition from welfare to work, there has simply been a shift for many of the Food Bank's clients - from being unemployed, to being underemployed. A single mother with three kids, earning $8.50 an hour isn't going to make it to the 30th of the month". 

The program has been so successful that tutoring programs are now coming directly to the Food Bank to sign up. Unfortunately there is a growing waiting list, as there is not always the necessary funding to establish new sites.

The Senior Brown Bag Program

The Senior Brown Bag Program is designed to deliver bags of supplemental groceries to low-income senior citizens throughout San Joaquin County. The Food Bank has been delivering this service for over thirty years and has extensive experience in the administration of this program. Working with the Department of Aging and Community Services. The Food Bank is presently serving over 2,600 low-income seniors at twenty sites located throughout the county. Each site receives a delivery of supplemental groceries twice each month. In the 2006-2007 program year, the Food Bank distributed over 986,000 pounds of supplemental groceries to these program recipients, at a value of over 1.4 million dollars.

The Food Bank believes that this program enhances senior's lifestyles in two major ways. First, through this program we are able to assist low-income seniors in balancing their daily dietary needs by providing nutritious supplemental groceries that they may not otherwise have. Secondly, by providing these low-income seniors with these groceries we hope to allow them to maximize their limited dollars towards other living expenses such as rent and medical needs.

Family Assistance Program

Family Assistance Program - Second Harvest Food Bank of San Joaquin and Stanislaus Counties interacts with over 213 different non-profit charities in a seven county area. Each of these agencies has a food program of their own. These agencies visit the Food Bank as often as once per week to select packaged groceries, canned fruit and vegetables, cereals and breads, diary products, meats and fresh fruits and vegetables.

Through these agencies, the Food Bank serves homeless women and men, the mentally ill, abused children, battered women, people living with AIDS, recipients of public assistance, women raising children alone, immigrant populations, youth at risk, recovering substance abusers and senior citizens. In the 2006-2007 - program year, the Food Bank distributed almost 8 million pounds of supplemental groceries to these agencies at a value of over $12 million dollars.

In addition, the Food Bank has formed partnerships with some of these agencies to maximize our effectiveness. An example of this is the Lodi Emergency Food Bank. This is a collaborative effort between Second Harvest Food Bank of San Joaquin and Stanislaus Counties and the Lodi Salvation Army. Here the Food Bank is providing the supplemental groceries necessary to stock a Food Bank operation, and the Salvation Army is providing warehouse space and volunteers to help distribute the food to those in need in Lodi.

For more information on any of our programs contact:
Mike Mallory,Executive Director Phone: 209-239-2091