Emergency Food Bank and Family Services Stockton / San Joaquin

Public Policy

The Emergency Food Bank is involved in public policy efforts in line with our agency's Mission Statement:

The mission of the Emergency Food Bank is to build a stronger community by providing a safety net of food, nutrition and health education, job training and hope to residents of San Joaquin County who find themselves in an emergency situation.  We further advance our mission by supporting those organizations, groups and community events whose goals and mission target similar community building and health lifestyles.

To support the mission and our goals of reducing or ending hunger and food-insecurity in our county, we have worked on these targets in the past year:

• Acting as a founding member of the Hunger Task Force for San Joaquin County and advancing the nine goals adopted by the group.
• Seeking Food Stamp simplification by the State of California, so that more eligible families can enroll and gain these Federal nutrition benefits.
• Building an active partnership with the County's Human Service Agency and Public Health Department, in advancing Food Stamp enrollment and sharing nutrition and meal-planning skills with thousands of our clients.  Our Mobile Farmer's Market and Nutrition on the Move education programs advance these goals, working closely with the county and other nutrition agencies.
• Gaining CDBG grants and private foundation support to build a Nutrition Education Center and remodel our on-site food pantry in the last half of 2009 - to better serve a growing cadre of client families and seniors.
• Establishing position of a Food Developer, who over the past year, has developed approximately 1.5 million pounds of newly donated food, equating to approximately 1.2 million family meals.

For additional insight on our public policy efforts, contact Tim Viall, at the EFB, 464-7369 or tviall@stocktonfoodbank.org.