Volunteers feed the need as food banks struggle with funding cuts, rising demand

YOU MIGHT HAVE WALKED past someone today who was struggling with food insecurity. Thousands of people worry about how to get food on their table, and most of them hide it.

One in three Californians has experienced or is at risk of experiencing food insecurity and hunger due to poverty, and almost 5.4 million California residents count on CalFresh, the state’s food assistance program, according to the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano.

Higher food costs, combined with a rise in unemployment since 2022, is increasing food insecurity in Contra Costa County, forcing the regional food bank to support a growing population of food-insecure people. 

The nonprofit food bank depends on donations or grants from the government. It purchases foods in bulk, such as produce and pantry staples, which it ships to the Contra Costa County warehouse in Concord or the Solano County warehouse in Fairfield. Volunteers bag, box, and distribute food and supplies to people in need through distribution programs throughout the counties. The food bank, which says it provides enough food each month for 2.7 million meals, partners with 245 nonprofit organizations to help make these distributions possible.

Volunteers of all ages staff stations at tables, systematically taking rejected produce from supermarkets in large cardboard barrels, bagging it, and putting the new bags of produce into another box to be shipped to distribution centers. Volunteers chat as music plays throughout the warehouse as they work; a friendly atmosphere filling the volunteer space.

A bushel of apples

Adrienne Castillo of Alamo started volunteering at the food bank with her daughter when she was a child. She continued to do so even after her daughter went to college.

“It’s a task that’s really focused,” she said, “and you have this sense of accomplishment that you start with that big barrel of a bushel of apples, and then all of a sudden they’re all in the bags, and the one box is empty.”

“People feel like, ‘Oh, I don’t need to get help, or I don’t deserve help, or I shouldn’t get help because I can figure it out. I’ve got $20 in my account … I can buy something.’”
Jeremy Crittenden, Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano

Trucks transport large shipments from the volunteer centers, which are sections of the warehouses in Concord and Fairfield, to distribution centers, where people can obtain food and even diapers. The food bank has 260 distribution spots throughout the community, including food pantries, churches and parking lots. It also serves 12 other counties in Northern California near the Oregon border and Chico, according to Jeremy Crittenden, a spokesperson for the food bank.

Crittenden said the food bank has lost $1.9 million to $2 million in federal funding, money that used to go to food. The loss includes grants from The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and government funding for purchasing fruits and vegetables from local farmers, especially Black or Indigenous people’s farms, through the California BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) Farmer and Land Steward Relief Fund.

There were cuts to the national social safety net on April 1, as well. Many people will lose Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, creating more demand for food bank help. Federal cuts to SNAP will total $2 billion, along with $50 million reductions from the CalFresh program, according to the food bank’s 2025 Impact Report. The October 2025 federal government shutdown disrupted CalFresh/SNAP benefits, leaving 98,000 local households without money they depended on to buy groceries, the food bank said.

Crittenden said one of the food bank’s largest struggles is the stigma around asking for help. 

“I would say from a community standpoint, one of the biggest things that every food bank and every charity deals with is the stigma,” he said. “People feel like, ‘Oh, I don’t need to get help, or I don’t deserve help, or I shouldn’t get help because I can figure it out. I’ve got $20 in my account, you know, that’s, you know, I can buy something.’”

Before it’s too late

Crittenden wants more people to seek help before they get to their last dollar, so they are able to save money in case of an emergency and use the food bank before it is too late. 

The food bank has created programs beyond food supplies, such as diaper distributions and 24/7 food lockers in case someone misses food distribution times. There are distribution sites and refrigerated food lockers at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, Contra Costa College in San Pablo, Diablo Valley College in San Ramon, and Los Medanos College in Pittsburg, as well as the Refuge church and food pantry in Concord.

The food bank depended on 5,600 volunteers and donations of about $13 million as of 2025. Volunteers collectively put in enough hours as 51 full-time employees, according to the food bank’s website.

Jennifer Apkarian has been a volunteer since 2009.

“It’s been very good,” she said. “This is a very nice community, and I enjoy doing everything that they asked me to do, including food sorting, sorting donated food, boxing projects, and distributions out in the community.”

Apkarian said people in need are grateful for help, but nothing about them appears different than anyone else.

Without volunteers, Crittenden said, “there’s nothing we can do. It’s impossible. They’re so integral.”

To volunteer and learn more, go to the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano website.

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Mya Eifler is a 10th grader at San Ramon Valley High School in Danville and a CCYJ reporter. She is a member of the school’s journalism club, the Wolfprint.

This story originally appeared in CCSpin.