Recently, Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services (SFBFS) hosted our annual Spirit of Giving recognition event. This gathering is meant to celebrate all of the wonderful businesses, schools, churches and neighborhood groups who raised money, food and clothing for SFBFS during the holiday season. This year, SFBFS partnered with over 250 organizations and together they collected nearly 100,000 pounds of food, over 26,500 articles of clothing and close to $34,000 dollars in cash contributions.
The cash contributions were raised through SFBFS' Virtual Food Drive, which allows SFBFS to leverage relationships with local farms and purchase healthy food directly from local farmers at a discounted rate. The organization's goal is to continue to build the Virtual Food Drive so SFBFS can increase the percentage of fresh fruits, vegetables, legumes and grains that we provide to families in need.
Currently, a family that visits SFBFS' Food program receives a four day supply of food and more than 50% of the food items they receive are fresh produce. The families in our Food program have been receptive to this change and show their appreciation by engaging in health and nutrition discussions, gardening classes and positive changes to their diet. All of these program changes have taken time, but the results have been significant. In 2010, SFBFS served 9,000 individuals per month. Today, with our free famers' market format, taking produce 12 different locations each month, SFBFS now serves 20,000 people per month. None of this would be possible without the generosity form all the wonderful groups that support our efforts.
Check out great photos from this year's Spirit of Giving celebration
Is your company interested in hosting a donation drive? Visit SFBFS' Web site for more information.
Submitted by Blake Young, President/CEO
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