NEWS – Food Now

FOOD NOW NEWS

Thanksgiving Food Distribution

The Food Now Thanksgiving food distribution was a phenomenal success. On Wednesday and Thursday November 18 and 19, Food Now provided close to 600 families with all they needed to prepare a Thanksgiving feast. Food Now distributed turkeys, yams, stuffing, squash, mashed potatoes, cranberry and even desserts.

“The COVID crisis and economic shut down has caused hardships for millions,” says Dana Johnson, the organization’s executive director. “2020 has been a crazy year and our community has been hit particularly hard. These are our friends, family and neighbors. There is so much chaos, so much uncertainty. We wanted to bring just a little bit of normalcy back. And what a better way than to provide the items needed for a family to prepare a holiday feast.” For some who could not or preferred not to cook, $25 gift cards were provided to buy groceries.

A special thanks to the Grocery Outlet, Affinity Recovery, Royal Emerald Pharmaceutical, Martha’s Village and Bobbie (you know who you are) for making this Thanksgiving possible and memorable for hundreds of families. Food Now could not do any of this without our wonderful volunteers who give so freely and unselfishly of their time and talents to make sure this amazing distribution, and every distribution throughout the year goes off without a hitch. To our Food Now team, a very heartfelt thank you!

November 18, 2020

October 22, 2020

Bighorn Cares (They Really Do)

Food Now received great news today. They were honored to have been selected as recipient for Bighorn Cares 2020 Grant funding (https://www.bighorncares.com/2019-grant-recipients. Food Now applied for funding to be used to upgrade their facility, specifically install new flooring. Bighorn generously awarded $10,000 for the project. A check presentation took place Oct 22, at 7am at Food Now prior to their normal Thursday distribution.

“We distribute over 1,000,000 pounds of food to our community every year” said Dana Johnson, Executive Director. “That is a huge amount of traffic and it takes a tremendous toll on our facility. This grant will allow us to install new flooring that will be able to handle the strains of moving that kind of tonnage in and out. We could not be happier.”

Thank you Bighorn

Royal Emerald Pharmaceuticals Donates $10,000 to Food Now

Royal Emerald Pharmaceuticals is a new company relocated to Desert Hot Springs. They made the donation during the ribbon cutting for their new facilities.

Thank you

Royal Emerald Pharmaceuticals

BIGHORN Golf Club Charities Come Up Big

BIGHORN Golf Club Charities was so moved by the great work being done by Food Now they made a $12,000 donation through its Bighorn Cares Grant program. The money is for the purchase and installation of a walk-in cooler that will double the agencies capacity to provide fresh and healthy food.

Family Services of the Desert’s community food pantry Food Now is the largest food pantry in the Coachella Valley, both in number of people served and pounds of food distributed. Food Now currently distributes approximately 700,000 pounds of food annually, over 13,000 pounds per week. About 1/3 of the food distributed is fresh and requires refrigeration. The 4,400 pounds of fresh food distributed weekly would fill to overflowing the existing walk-in cooler. This limits the agency’s ability to provide the freshest and healthiest food for our clients.

The second walk-in cooler made possible by Bighorn Cares will double the agency’s refrigerated storage capacity and allow Food Now to distribute twice as much healthy and nutritious fresh food. This in turn allows for us to cut back on the processed canned goods. Doubling the fresh food distributed makes the food boxes served some of the healthiest of any food pantry. And more important, it gives our clients the ingredients for a healthy diet and a healthy life.

THANK YOU BIGHORN Golf Club Charities for your generous donation.

Installing New Walk-in Cooler

Supervisor Manny Perez Visits Food Now

Supervisor Manny Perez spearheads 2019/2020 CDBG funding for Food NowFood Now received great news recently. Riverside County approved $12,000 for Food Now as part of the 2019/2020 Community Development Block Grant funding. The money will be used to provide food assistance and other programs that meet the critical needs of the residents of Desert Hot Springs and the surrounding area of the 4^thCounty District.

Last year Food Now was denied funding from the CDBG. The reason given was the board of supervisors had to “prioritize” which programs were funded. “We were devastated” said Dana Johnson, Food Now Executive Director. Johnson reached out to Supervisor Manny Perez’ office looking for answers. “Supervisor Perez has always been a supporter of Food Now and the great work we do. I wanted to know just what could be a higher priority than feeding hungry families, seniors and children” Johnson would ask.

To Supervisor Perez’ credit, he held a press conference at Food Now to illuminate the challenges faced by Food Now as they fight hunger and food insecurity in Desert Hot Springs which is in the 4^thSupervisorial District. It also allowed Supervisor Perez to meet the families, seniors, children, and his constituents who benefit from the food assistance and other programs provided by Food Now.

Every week 350 households, over 1,000 men, women and children look to Food Now for help in putting food on their table. Thanks to Supervisor Perez, their well-being is a priority a once again. When families are strengthened, entire communities rise up.

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