FALL NEWSLETTER 2019

This summer, from June 10 to August 15, was our yearly Kids’ Summer Club program.

When you hear the name Kids’ Summer Club, do you think of fun-filled days of summer with children playing in the sprinklers, swimming in pools, finger painting and barbequing hot dogs and hamburgers?

Our Kids’ Summer Club program is, in fact, much more serious and important than games and cookouts for the children we serve. This signature program benefits the hungry children who lose access to school meals when school is out.

This summer, the total number of food distribution sites grew to 42, serving an estimated 5,000 children each week. In conjunction with the Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCA, and the Desert Recreation District, FIND provided food for their daytime mini Farmers Markets. These mini Kids’ Farmers Markets offered the

supplemental nutrition assistance to help them eat not only during the week, but also to have enough food to bridge the weekend gap.

Of the 42 sites, FIND’s Mobile Pantry Truck conducted weekly direct distributions of food at 12 sites for the entire 10 week period. It is important to understand these sites were in food

deserts, isolated communities that lack access to other community-based, food-assistance programs. FIND chose to hold evening “Farmers Markets” so that parents, home from work, and their children, were able to obtain food together. Each family was able to receive 65-75 pounds of free food.

We cannot do this important work without your support. Together, we help thousands of children think of summer as the season of fun, rather than the season of hunger.

Helping Hungry Children Through Kids’ Summer Club!

FOOD For THOUGHT

FIND Food Bank • (760) 775-3663 • FINDFoodBank.org • #FINDaWaytoEndHunger

Message From CEOAs summer is winding down and we are all looking forward to cooler days, I wanted to stop and take this moment to acknowledge and thank all our donors and volunteers for your generosity, kindness and care for FIND. You always make our work here so worthwhile and sustainable.

We have witnessed first-hand in every desert community, people benefitting from your understanding and big-heartedness for our neighbors in need. I always say that without your limitless generosity, we could not raise the three million dollars we need each year to run our massive warehouse operations and increase the number of food distribution programs efficiently. Without YOU, we would not be able to sustain the 140 distribution sites.

What’s Coming Next?• Giving Society.We have again planned an incredibly meaningful Giving Society event. The Giving Society is the basic financial building block that allows us to continually bolster our fiscal health. To all our Giving Society Members, thank you! Our fifth annual breakfast event will be January 10, 2020 (instead of November 2019). We want to make sure that everyone is back in the Desert to attend.

• Palm Desert Food & Wine.Next March is our third time as the charitable recipient for Palm Desert Food and Wine. Do not miss out – you will have a deliciously fun time!

• TELETHON 2020.April is the special 10th Anniversary of our TELETHON live broadcast. Again sponsored by News Channel 3, The Desert’s News Leader, there will be lots to see and celebrate.

Kicking off our events, this November 9, 2019, will be a new event, the DESERT DATE FEST. We are pleased to announce that we will be the charitable recipient for what will be an Artisan Food festival in the City of Coachella. We will be emailing out all the details soon.

Debbie Espinosa, President & CEO

The Ridgecrest Earthquakes by Debbie Espinosa

Generosity Throughout the Year

Did you feel them? As I sat in my chair at home, I looked up and saw the fan swaying back and forth over my head and thought, “Oh NO, it’s an earthquake!” As the CEO of FIND, I immediately called our two sister food banks that serve the Ridgecrest and Trona areas, as well as our Disaster Response Department at the Feeding America national office based in Chicago. FIND, along with the rest of the Southern California food banks, were on watch to provide support to our sister food bank in Fresno, should they need assistance with disaster services. FIND worked with our partner, Nestle, and shipped one semi-tractor load of bottled water to the area. As the Desert’s Regional Food Bank and a member of Feeding America, FIND holds the responsibility for food disaster services for the greater desert region, including the Coachella Valley. Should we experience a devastating earthquake, fire, or other emergency, FIND and our Feeding America sister food banks are here to serve the entire community. If you would like to know more, please call 760.775.3663.

Throughout the year, our donors — individuals, businesses, and foundations — go above and beyond the norm in support of our mission at FIND.

Here are just a few we would like to recognize and thank.

This was a big birthday year for both Carol Peyton and Tony Laperuto. They threw themselves an incredibly fun and meaningful birthday bash and had their guests give their gifts in the form of a financial contribution to FIND. It was incredibly successful, raising $8,000.

Every year, Dennis Walsh throws two Garden Parties at his beautiful home in Palm Springs as a fundraiser for FIND. He and his guests raised over $2,700 for FIND.

The Ramon Hub Club, a mobile park group that has held a community potluck every year for the last nine years to benefit FIND, donated $2,160 this year.

Date Harvest FestivalFIND’s Newest FundraiserThe first annual Date Harvest Festival, hosted by the City of Coachella, will take place November 9, 2019, at Rancho Las Flores Park. The event will highlight Coachella Valley date growers and help introduce guests to the many ways that dates can be used in food dishes through the Artisan Food Tent. There will be live entertainment and a farmers market. One dollar from every ticket will go directly to FIND Food Bank. Local celebrity chefs will be catering a charity dinner benefitting FIND Food Bank on Friday, November 8, at the new Coachella Library to kick off the festivities. The chefs will bring their own unique twists on date dishes at a Dinner Under the Stars. For more information on either event, please visit dateharvestfestival.com.

VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT: Judy and Les Grats

Judy and Les Grats

Providing food to an average of 85,000 people a month would be an impossible task without the help of volunteers. FIND receives more than 15,000 hours of service from individuals like Judy and Les Grats, who have been volunteering at the food bank for two and a half years.

Mr. and Mrs. Grats retired to the Coachella Valley. Judy is used to the busy life of retail, so retirement was just a little too quiet for her. As Les put it, “We are attached at the hip,” so shortly after moving, they began volunteering together with different organizations in the valley. When they found the food bank, they loved the organization, the work, and the quality of the produce they sorted. They have been volunteering 1-2

times a week. It is a rare occasion to see one without the other.

The Grats were an instrumental part of FIND’s annual Telethon for the past two years. Due to how well they know the work that volunteers do, they volunteered to lead and help manage the over 250 volunteers that FIND hosted on Telethon night. They worked tirelessly all evening to help the staff manage the groups of volunteers. Although it was hard work, they returned on Monday morning to continue sorting the product that was left from Telethon the night before. Their dedication to the food bank comes from their love to give back to the community in which they live.

FINDFoodBank.org

Support FIND Food Bank and you too can help the 85,000 adults, children and seniors we provide food assistance to across the Coachella Valley every month.

83775 Citrus Avenue Indio, CA 92201 (760) 775-3663#FINDaWaytoEndHunger

501(c)(3) TAX ID # 33-0006007

Meet Our Warehouse Staff

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The skilled warehouse staff at FIND, through their hard work and diligence, are able to distribute 10 million plus pounds of food each year safely and efficiently.

Our team is especially busy during the very hot summer months, as they prepare orders totaling an additional 700,000 pounds to their already busy schedule. This additional poundage is for our signature program, the Kids’ Summer Club Mobile Pantry and our partner agency sites who participate in the summer program.

Obviously, we love our warehouse team! FIND could not function without their hard work and continuous efforts to get it right. We wanted you to see them in action in the pictures below, and give them the credit they so richly deserve!

Hunger Action MonthSeptember is Hunger Action Month™, a yearly initiative from Feeding America, when FIND Food Bank joins our fellow members and partners (across the country) to ask everyone to take action and fight hunger in the community. Hunger Action Month is your opportunity to join a movement that has a real and lasting impact on our effort to feed more people than ever before — the need is that great. Whether it’s by advocating and raising awareness, donating, or volunteering, you can find a way to get involved that works for you. THANK YOU for taking action to fight hunger.

Call FIND at 760-775-3663 for more information.

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Henry

Carmen

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