WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In early September, it was announced the Amazon Grocery Fulfillment Center in West Sacramento was closing. The news meant the Yolo Food Bank would be losing one of its largest food donors and more than one million pounds of food that was donated annually.
It was a hard pill to swallow as the food bank is seeing a 50% increase in households needing food distribution in West Sacramento.
Maria Segoviano, the director of development and communications with the food bank, says it only purchases about 16% of their food, with the majority of it coming from companies, like Amazon, who donate food.
“It is a significant gap. It is not all going to come from one source,” Segoviano said.
She said one way they are mitigating the loss is by teaming up with agricultural companies to grow and donate food.
“It is dependent on what kind of produce and when it is good for them in the season,” Segoviano said.
More help comes from networks of food banks like Contra Costa and Solano to help fill the gap in the short term.
Plus, Amazon was going to stop food donations when the warehouse closed at the end of October, but the food bank said it was slightly extended to Nov. 7.
“What a lot of folks do not know is that we cannot solicit outside of Yolo County to receive food donations,” Segoviano said.
Most of the solutions are short term, but the food bank hopes permanent ones will soon arise.
Since the news, Segoviano says they have seen a slight uptick in private donations.
“We are leaning on our community for support of our donors, our funders, to help us also see through this,” Segoviano said.
The Food Bank says it is always in need of volunteers. If you want to volunteer or donate, click here for more information.
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