Stockton’s emergency food bank received a $1.15 million federal grant to fund a major expansion as the organization struggles to keep up with surging demand for food assistance across the city and San Joaquin County.
The Community Project Funding grant will support construction of a new Food Recovery Hub warehouse for the Emergency Food Bank of Stockton/San Joaquin County. Rep. Josh Harder, D–Tracy, joined staff and volunteers at the food bank’s drive-through distribution center Thursday morning to present the grant.
“This investment is going to do so much to upgrade the potential that the Emergency Food Bank has,” Harder said. “We’re going to be able to build a new warehouse right across the street, and that warehouse is going to double the scale of this emergency food bank.”
Leonard Hansen, the food bank’s president and CEO, said the organization has seen dramatic growth in recent years, serving 255,000 families last year, distributing about 7 million pounds of food annually.
The food bank also relies heavily on volunteers, with roughly 20 to 35 volunteers working on site, according to Hansen.
“A new building will allow us to not only increase our capacity to serve and continue to grow… but we can also consolidate our operations from many rented facilities and containers,” Hansen said. “The entire distribution will go around the building, which adds dignity to each client who comes here.”
Stockton emergency food bank currently operates out of a 7,000-square-foot warehouse built in the 1980s that lacks a loading dock and has become too small for current needs, according to a press release. Staff say the organization now serves an average of 500 vehicles per distribution day.
The new facility — planned to be roughly 15,500 to 17,400 square feet — will more than double the food bank’s capacity, add a dedicated loading dock and allow vehicles to drive around the building for greater client dignity, according to Hansen.
Officials hope to begin construction by the end of this year or early next year, with the new hub expected to open in the middle to late part of next year. The expansion will also improve the food bank’s ability to recover and store fresh produce and shelf-stable items from local and regional partners, reducing waste.
Harder has volunteered at the food bank multiple times with his staff, the congressman said, expressing his frustration about the challenges families face with food insecurity in the county.
“We produce 25% of the nation’s food supply in San Joaquin County and across the Central Valley,” Harder said. “It’s outrageous that in an area where you pass a farm every two seconds that there are folks that are going hungry. Many of the families that use food banks work full-time jobs but still can’t make ends meet with rising costs.”
Hansen said that an estimated 10.8% of San Joaquin County residents — nearly 84,000 people — face food insecurity. The food bank served about 88% of those in need last year and continues to see rising demand, Hansen said.
The much-needed grant comes after two years of work by his office, Hansen said, and marks the food bank’s six-year anniversary under his leadership.
“This expansion project will make sure that more families have access to this lifeline with dignity. We can’t let our community go hungry,” Harder said.