Food Bank Collects Fresh Produce for the Needy

From a warehouse on the gritty side of Long Beach, one of the country’s largest independent food banks has distributed millions of meals with a unique ingredient: fresh produce.

For a generation, the Southern California Food Bank has collected donated fruit, vegetables, grains and other staples from all over the country -- from the lettuce bowl of Central California to potato farms in Big Island, Va. -- and delivered them to hundreds of groups that feed the hungry.

“We make our supply available to 600 agencies or groups, from drug rehab centers to day-care centers to shelters for abused women and children,” said John Knapp, president of the nonprofit organization. “Any group that feeds people at no charge and with no strings attached -- we will supply.”

Some food banks, he said, require agencies to make financial deposits before they get food. Some church-based rescue missions require recipients to worship before they eat.

“We believe every person is entitled to eat” with no conditions, Knapp said, “especially children.”

The food bank offers nearly 31 million pounds of food a year to the hungry -- mostly children and seniors -- Knapp said, and does so with a shoestring annual budget of $1.2 million and a staff of 10 people.

The food bank received $10,000 from the 2004 Times Holiday Campaign, which raises money for nonprofit groups that assist disadvantaged children and youths in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties.

Service organizations usually pick up food at the Long Beach warehouse, then distribute it from their own sites.

The group Parents of Watts, for instance, each week picks up about 2,000 pounds of food and gives it away to about 1,000 people -- in bags of groceries or in meals it prepares, Knapp said.

What sets the Southern California Food Bank of Long Beach apart from other organizations is that it provides fresh produce.

Perishable foods such as fruit and vegetables are kept in a separate, refrigerated space and are usually shipped out within eight hours, Knapp said.

Why not stick with nonperishable, canned goods?

Everyone needs healthful food, but younger and older people especially need it, Knapp said. Most food banks avoid produce because it has a shorter lifespan and costs more to handle, he said.

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HOW TO GIVE

The annual Holiday Campaign is part of the Los Angeles Times Family Fund, a fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation. Donations for the campaign to help poor children and youths should be sent to: L.A. Times Holiday Campaign, File 56986, Los Angeles, CA 90074-6986. Do not send cash.

Credit card donations can be made at latimes.com/holidaycampaign. For details, call (800) LATIMES, Ext. 75771.