Truckloads of food help Monterey County food banks

Truckloads of food came to Monterey County Thursday to help feed families in need. Thousands of pounds of fresh produce were dropped off to food banks all over the state. The drought has impacted many of them. Thursday’s donations will help them fill a critical need.

The food bank for Monterey is getting thousands of pounds of help from farmers in Fresno county.

Sarah Wollf, a Fresno County farmer said, “We produce 40 percent of the United States’ food supply for fruits and vegetables, so we wanted to get some produce available and bring it other communities that are also suffering.”

The suffering comes from a long lasting drought. Salinas is just one of the communities that got help from the California Water Feeds Our Communities Organization.

Wollf said, “We went to Watsonville, Salinas, we took a couple to the Los Angeles area, a couple to the San Diego area, Oxnard, Riverside, Santa Barbara, Bakersfield, Merced.”

Fifteen trucks total hit the road to make the much needed food bank deliveries. It’s been so bad here, the food bank has been shopping for groceries just to fill the needs. But this delivery will definitely help.

Executive director of the food bank for Monterey, Melissa Kendrick said, “Today we got some stone fruit which is wonderful because the shelf life is terrific which is what we’re looking for being a food bank.

Bell peppers, yellow tomatoes, red tomatoes, all the produce came in by the truckload and not only helps this food bank but the agencies that it serves.

“We distribute approximately a little over 6 million pounds of food a year so the fact that in one truckload today we received 300,000 pounds of unbelievable produce from the Central Valley is just tremendous,” Kendrick said.

It’s a big load of help for the food bank, and the people who need it most.