By Casey Castillo
Since assuming operations of the North County Food Bank at the request of the community in 2015, the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank has grown this North County operation significantly — going from providing just under 500,000 pounds of food during 2015 to more than 7.5 million pounds this year.
Despite this work, there is still a growing food insecurity challenge facing the San Diego region, and more specifically, our northernmost cities, that we must do more to address.
According to a recent study by the San Diego Hunger Coalition, a staggering one in four San Diego County residents are unsure of how they will get their next meal, predominantly due to looming economic insecurity and the rapidly rising cost of living in our region.
This is further reflected in research conducted by San Diego State University, in which 1,018 surveys revealed that the average income of individuals visiting our Vista warehouse in North County is significantly lower than the county average.
What’s more, over half of the North County respondents reported regularly relying on the North County Food Bank for assistance.
As our cities and community members grapple with rising costs and the rollback of critical federal support programs, it is up to local food banks and pantries to address these expanding challenges.
Given the growing demand, the San Diego Food Bank is taking the next step to fully integrate the North County Food Bank into our regional network by renaming the facility to the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank as well.
Bringing all our operations under one name will reduce existing confusion and reinforce our commitment to our neighbors in North County. Through both our facilities, we currently distribute approximately 11.7 million pounds of food per year to North County.
We also offer access to all the same programs, including the diaper bank and period supply programs — even though many people are not aware of this fact.
The full integration of these facilities and services will help the community better identify our work, ultimately increasing the number of people we reach and the impact of our network of services.
The Food Bank’s mission to provide nutritious food and advocate for the hungry drives our decision-making. We are constantly striving to improve access to our life-changing services and programs. We firmly believe renaming the North County Food Bank will help the community more easily find and navigate all our resources, ultimately helping us feed more people in our northernmost cities.
Finally, the San Diego Food Bank will unveil a new logo to represent our integrated organization and improve access to our services. Once launched, streamlined branding and a unified website will make it easier for community members and stakeholders to access emergency hunger relief resources they need when they need them.
Despite ongoing economic uncertainty, the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank remains committed to the community we’ve served for over 45 years. Through our integration, we will support more people in North County and beyond while paving the way for more growth in our next chapter.
Casey Castillo is the CEO of Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank.Â
