How, Where, When to Find Free Food
By David Bolling
The threat to SNAP funding currently crowding the headlines brings even more attention to an issue receiving increased local focus ever since the COVID pandemic – food insecurity, the twenty-first Century term for what used to be called hunger. Food insecurity is commonly defined as the lack of consistent access to enough nutritious food for an active, healthy life, most commonly caused by poverty.
And while a pair of federal judges have cleared the way for partial funding of the Supplemental Food Assistance Program (SNAP), using money from a Department of Agriculture contingency fund, SNAP recipients will receive only half the usual disbursement through November. And those funds were not available as expected on November 1, resulting in increased demand at Bay Area food banks.
That news inspired the Napa County Board of Supervisors to declare a local emergency and approve spending up to $1 million on emergency food assistance over the next two months.
In Sonoma County, the picture is less dire, even though the Redwood Empire Food Bank (REFB), which serves more than 300 distribution sites – mostly in Sonoma County – has experienced a 170-percent increase in food-related phone calls over the last week, while losing 20 percent of its funding and food from the federal government, according to spokesperson Rachelle Mesheau.
In California, 14 percent of state residents use SNAP, amounting to almost 5.5 million people, with an average per capita monthly value of $190 per person. But notwithstanding the disruption in federal funding as a product of the ongoing government shutdown, and a 17-percent increase in the number of people in local food lines before the SNAP disruption, Mesheau reports, “We’re OK right now. We have enough food to feed everyone.”
The Santa Rosa-based nonprofit agency is by far the biggest supplier of free food in Sonoma County, and it keeps supply lines filled and flowing to more than a dozen Valley agencies and distribution sites from Kenwood to Temelec. Which leads to the question of just how much food insecurity is there in the Valley?
Assessing the dimensions of food insecurity is a challenge. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, food insecurity is when people don’t have enough to eat and don’t know where their next meal will come from. But how many people is that, and how do you measure? The USDA estimates that in the U.S. 47 million people – including 13 million children – experience food insecurity every year. In Sonoma Valley, the number has varied between 8,000 and 7,000 during the past three years, according to the Sonoma Valley Catalyst Fund, which conducted a comprehensive, nine-month analysis, that included hundreds of interviews, resulting in that estimate, along with a number of other insights about local food insecurity.
It’s a sobering figure for a Valley community of some 40,000 people, and the dimensions of the challenge inspired Catalyst to undertake a Food Security Initiative with the goal of achieving a long-term, sustainable, local food security system. That goal requires the intricate weaving together of efforts from multiple local nonprofit agencies, with commercial providers, supply chains and regional partners beyond Sonoma Valley.
From those efforts, and the collaboration of numerous partners, a multi-faceted food security program has taken shape, prominently including a partnership with the food recovery nonprofit Extra Food, which collects unused or unsold food from markets, restaurants and growers, then processes and distributes it for free. A classic example of how the program touches many lives involves the recent donation of hand-picked apples from a community member, picked up by an Extra Food van driver and delivered to Sonoma Valley Teen Services, where teens turned the apples into applesauce, that was then delivered to Unity Kitchen where it was included in 20 meals prepared for residents of Homeless Action Sonoma’s tiny home village in The Springs.
Food waste is an enormous global problem, relating to both hunger and environmental damage. The United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) estimates the world wastes more than one billion meals a day. In 2010, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimated that 30 to 40 percent of the U.S. food supply is wasted, which translates into approximately 133 billion pounds, worth $161 billion.
In California, the Legislature in 2022 adopted SB 1383 mandating that regulated food donors – like supermarkets and grocery stores – establish agreements with local food recovery organizations to donate edible food safely, instead of dumping it in the trash. Extra Food now addresses that mandate with a solution that relieves several local markets and local food producers with pick-up and delivery with minimal waste.
All of which illustrates that the biggest challenge with food insecurity may not be so much supply, but delivery, connecting the available supply to the people who need it. Which leads us back to Redwood Empire Food Bank and its myriad delivery points in Sonoma Valley. There are now distribution points where free food is available in fairly close proximity to everyone living from Kenwood to the Bay. To find them, see the list below, or go to the REFB website, REFB.org.
To receive REFB food, you’ll need to register, which you can do online. If you want to give food, or money, REFB welcomes donations of either, as do all the food providers listed below.
People interested in donating food are invited to organize private food drives, although REFB is no longer distributing empty food barrels because when they fill up they’re almost impossible to transport. Some private citizens have organized neighborhood food drives by leafleting neighbors to donate, and the REFB has numerous food drive strategies explained on their website, along with downloadable pamphlets.
Most of the nonprofits listed below also welcome not just donations of food and money, but volunteer time as well. FESB relies heavily on volunteers, with some 8,400 participating each year.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Conference of Mayors conducted a survey last week in which 96 percent of respondents said disruption of SNAP benefits would have a significant-to-very significant impact on their residents – notably including children and seniors – as well as on local grocery stores and small businesses. This news came, parenthetically, on the heels of President Trump’s well-publicized and ironically-timed Great Gatsby luxury dinner for several hundred wealthy invitees on Halloween at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
Free Food Guide
Larson Park 329 DeChene Avenue, Sonoma. Groceries to Go & Senior Basket. 1st & 3rd Monday, 2-3 p.m.
St. Leo’s Church 601 Agua Caliente Road, Sonoma. Groceries to Go & Senior Basket. Every Tuesday 8:30 – 9:30 a.m.
First Congregational Church 252 W. Spain Street, Sonoma. Groceries to Go & Senior Basket. 2nd & 4th Tuesday, 5 – 6 p.m.
St. Patrick’s Church 9000 Sonoma Hwy, Kenwood. Groceries to Go & Senior Basket. 1st & 3rd Tuesday, 5 – 6 p.m.
Jack London Village 14301 Arnold Drive, Glen Ellen. Groceries to Go & Senior Basket 1st & 3rd Friday, 9 a.m. – 10 a.m.
Sonoma Valley Community Health Center 19270 Sonoma Hwy, Sonoma. Groceries to Go. Hosts a REFB Produce Pantry every first and third Friday from 8:45 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. at 19270 Sonoma Hwy.
Craig Avenue Baptist Church 18621 Railroad Avenue, Sonoma Groceries to Go, Senior Basket, 2nd and 4th Fridays, 8:30 – 9:30 a.m.
Meals On Wheels of Sonoma 275 E Spain St., Delivers meals to homebound seniors. Call (707) 935-9141.
Friends In Sonoma Helping (FISH) 18330 Sonoma Hwy. Call (707) 996-0111. Provides food assistance Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.–3 p.m.
Unity Kitchen/Sonoma Family Meal, 17400 Sonoma Highway, Sonoma. Free prepared meals, sit down or take out, Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. 707.939.6777
Vintage House, 264 1st St E, Sonoma. To help our senior community stay informed and supported, Vintage House is coordinating the distribution of information about local food resources and donation opportunities. We ask seniors to please reach out to us if they need help finding a grocery location or need a ride to pick up groceries. General contact: 707.996.0311 [email protected] MyRide contact: 707.509.3186 denise.collier@vintagehouse.
Glad to see you folks on it