Holiday Food Drive Launched to Aid Needy

Amid economic hard times that have pushed demand up 20%, sponsors of the holiday food drive launched their 11th annual push for donations.

More than 300,000 San Diegans live at or below the poverty level, food drive officials said.

At a Tuesday press conference, corporate sponsors, including Pepsi and Bumble Bee tuna, hauled in 20,000 pounds of food. The goal is to take in 135 tons of goods, drive organizers said.

“So far this year, we’ve had about 20% more food requests from our member agencies. These agencies are requiring this food to meet the needs of their communities,” said Matthew Packard, Director of the San Diego Food Bank.

To meet this unusually high demand, the food drive’s organizers rely mostly on residents of San Diego for support.

“The bulk of the food comes from the community, 80-90% of the products that we receive are from individual citizens and individual companies that put (collection) barrels in their lobbies,” Packard said.

In past years, the Holiday Food Drive consisted of the combined efforts of the Police Officers Assn., Firefighters Union and the employees of the city of San Diego. This year, however, the nonprofit Holiday Food Drive formed a partnership with the San Diego Food Bank. Both sides hope that the arrangement will mean more food for San Diego’s hungry.

“In terms of logistics and operation, it made sense for the two to merge,” said Victoria Dodelin of the San Diego Food Bank.

The partnership has created a larger scope for the drive, which now includes more private sponsors and participants.

This year there are more than 700 locations to drop off food, which is 250 locations more than last year, Dodelin said.

Non-perishable foods in unbreakable packages can be dropped off at participating locations, including Pizza Huts, Texaco Gas Stations, Vons, Lucky Stores, Ralph’s Grocery Stores, Big Bear Supermarkets, Shurguard Storage, the Del Mar Holiday Fair this weekend and San Diego County libraries and police and fire stations.

The Holiday Food Drive also accepts tax-deductible donations, Food Bank Director Packard said.

“For $1 we receive, we can return $16 worth of food to the community,” Packard said.

The money received buys perishable goods such as fruits, vegetables and poultry. By purchasing in bulk, the Food Bank can stretch the donated dollar to its maximum benefit, Packard said.

The food drive began in 1981, when thieves stole 400 pounds of food from the San Diego Food Bank just days before Christmas. Led by then-City Councilwoman Susan Golding, now a county supervisor, the Holiday Food Drive sought to replace the stolen food. The drive has since become a San Diego holiday fixture and has collected and distributed more than 1,346,000 pounds of food to families.