As a regional community resource, FIND Food Bank serves an area larger than the state of New Jersey. More than 20 million pounds of food, half of it fresh produce, moves through its Indio headquarters — and, soon, the 40,000-square-foot facility next door — each year, making its way to more than 100 nonprofits, smaller local food banks, and FIND’s mobile pantries. “For every $1 that’s donated to the food bank, we have the ability to translate that into approximately 40 meals,” says president and CEO Debbie Espinosa.
But the organization looks out for residents far beyond their next meal. “We use a programmatic framework of ending hunger today, tomorrow, and for a lifetime,” Espinosa says. In addition to distributing food, FIND helps people register for CalFresh and offers workplace development and financial literacy programs for youth. The org takes a holistic approach, connecting families with utilities assistance and low-income housing resources so they have more money to purchase food.
FIND also aims to make changes at a policy level. “We do a lot of advocacy work at the state and federal level,” Espinosa says, “to ensure that there is a safety net to protect people from food insecurity.”
