The Foodbank of Southern California
Phone: (562) 435-3577
At The Foodbank of Southern California, we strive to be a key force against hunger by providing highly nutritious food to the community’s hungry citizens.
- We procure, transport, sanitize, repackage, refrigerate, store and distribute between 40 and 60 million pounds of food per year.
- We then channel the food as quickly as possible – often within hours — to hundreds of charitable organizations that re-distribute it to the most needy children, adults, seniors and families in our region. These organizations depend on the Foodbank because they are not able to independently handle the logistics of transportation, warehouse space and refrigeration.
- Although most of our food is distributed through local partners, we also directly distribute food through our mobile food pantry program in conjunction with local organizations. Through this program, we reach deeply into low-income neighborhoods with little access to fresh nutritious food.
Where Does The Food Come From?
Every year, a major portion of food donated to the foodbank is from the USDA Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). These are USDA food commodities such as flour, cornmeal, pinto beans, rice, milk, cheese, butter and frozen chicken.
We also receive large food donations from local businesses, including rescued food from local farms, food distributors and grocery outlets.
To ensure that food offerings include enough protein and fresh produce for a healthy diet, the foodbank also makes large bulk purchases from food distributors and local farms.
