Food Bank Coalition
2212 Golden Hill Rd.
Paso Robles, CA. 93446
(805) 238-4664

Since being founded in 1988, the Food Bank has become the only source of large-quantity donated or low-cost food to thousands of very low-income residents of San Luis Obispo County.

Throughout the years, Food Bank services have grown to the current state of providing 3 million pounds of food each year to 24,000 very low-income residents through three programs.

• Distribution to Pantry Program – provides nearly three million pounds of donated food to nearly 20,000 individuals through 100 member agencies throughout the region. These include soup kitchens, emergency food box programs, homeless and women’s shelters, foster care, and supplemental feeding programs. Most of these organizations provide other services as well, and rely on the Food Bank for significant portions of their food.

• USDA-EFAP – (United States Department of Agriculture’s Emergency Food Assistance Program) provides 459,000 pounds of quality nutritious food to thousands of qualified very low-income individuals through 16 household distribution sites and to sites where prepared meals are served.

• Brown Bag Program – provides weekly grocery bags of food directly to 750 low and very low-income seniors through 14 neighborhood distribution sites. By providing a reliable source of food items, the Food Bank is able to help our most fragile seniors maintain independence and good health with improved nutrition, and help mitigate the rising costs of medical care and other living costs.
   

• Food Stamp Outreach:
  Our Food Stamp Outreach Program assists eligible people to receive Food Stamps, accomplishing our mission to alleviate hunger in our county while bringing dollars into our economy. The Food Stamp Program (now known as Food Assistance Benefit Program), administered by the Dept. of Social Services, helps low income persons provide nutritious food for their families. At a time when wages have remained static and rents have soared, the number of Food Stamp recipients has declined in recent years. Paradoxically, while the need is acute, the participation rate for Food Stamps in our county is among the worst in California. The FBC works with the public and Dept. of Social Services to raise awareness and increase participation in this vital food program.
  Call our Food Stamp Coordinator at 227-6624 for help with applications
  Use these links for more info about Food Stamps.
  The Food Stamp Program and the Food Bank
  Short history of the Food Stamp Program
  Why is Food Stamp Outreach so Important
  Eligibility for the Food Stamp Program
   
• BackPack Program
  A new program of the Food Bank Coalition is the BackPack Program.  When children eat well, they learn better, are healthier, and are more likely to grow into happy, productive adults.  The public schools are becoming partners with the Food Bank to send nutritious food home with low-income children so that they will have healthy meals while not in school.  The food is attractively packaged for children, requires no assistance from adults to eat, and is balanced in all of the food groups.  The pilot program is at Georgia Brown School and Bauer/Speck School in Paso Robles, but is planned to be expanded to schools throughout the county as soon as funding is secure.  It takes $500 dollars per school year to fund one child, and 1/2 the cost comes from foundation grants which must be matched by local donors.  If you'd like sponsor a child or have your company sponsor more than one child, please call the Food Bank for information.  You can also donate to the BackPack Program at our website's "Make a Donation" page.

  Helpful Links:
  National Hunger Awareness Day
  www.SecondHarvest.org
  www.cafoodbanks.org
  
  

In addition to food from the USDA-EFAP program, the Food Bank accepts donations from America’s Second Harvest (formerly Second Harvest), the national Food Bank network whose mission is to acquire and distribute donated food to certified affiliates throughout the United States, local growers, other food banks in the state, local markets, bakeries and food producers, and from food drives held by local residents, businesses and schools.