Local nonprofit Food Finders and the City of Long Beach will open a new food pantry on Saturday, April 30 in Admiral Kidd Park that will provide residents in need with fresh food.
“Westside is considered a food desert. There’s no big market chain in the area,” said Diana Lara, executive director of Food Finders. “Our nonprofit partners don’t have access to refrigeration in many cases. So they’re only able to supply non-perishable foods.”
The new Food Finders Hub will be supplied and staffed by Food Finders, which is dedicated to reducing hunger and food waste.
The nonprofit will supply food stored at the Hub to partner agencies Monday through Friday and hold monthly community marketplaces where local residents can receive fresh produce and learn about nutrition, food waste and cooking.
“We’ll have a table set up kind of like farmer’s market style,” Lara said. “We’ll have the various products that we’re going to be donating for the day out so that they can come and pick the things that they’d like to take.”
The refrigerated container located at the Hub will be able to store produce, dairy and other perishable foods.
According to Food Finders’ 2021 Rescue Impact report, the nonprofit provided 13.3 million meals in food insecure communities last year. The majority of the donations they received were produce (51%), followed by nonperishable goods (21%), as well as meats, prepared foods, bakery items and dairy items.
While most of the food available at the Hub will be rescued from being thrown out, Food Finders will purchase high protein items that can be bought in bulk, such as peanut butter and meat products that may not be regularly donated.
“This Food Hub at Admiral Kidd Park adds to the nutrition resources for this community that really needs it,” Councilmember Roberto Uranga said in a statement. “Contributions from Food Finders and the nearby Women Infants and Children (WIC) program, along with efforts by the Boys and Girls Club to provide food, mean that residents who lack access to grocery stores have less food insecurity.”
According to Lara, Food Finders is planning to open its next Food Hub in North Long Beach but has no set timeline yet.
“The need to assist lower income families affected by business closures and unemployment during the pandemic is a critical, ongoing issue,” Mayor Robert Garcia said in a statement. “Our partnership with Food Finders is one way to help ensure access to healthy food for our hard-hit residents.”
