Our Mission:
Providing food for people in need in our community.
What We Do:
Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties' service area stretches from South San Francisco to Gilroy and from the ocean to the bay.
From July 2010 through June 2011, we provided food to an average of over 240,000 individuals each month, making us the single largest non-profit provider of food to low-income people in our service area. Of those we serve, the majority are families with dependent children and senior citizens.
In that period, we provided 45 million pounds of food to those in need through our direct distribution programs and our network of over 300 partner nonprofit agencies.
To help ensure that those who need food have access to it, we operate a multilingual toll-free hotline where we connect callers with food programs in their neighborhood.
In addition to providing food, we conduct nutrition classes and work with lawmakers to advocate for policy changes that can help eliminate hunger and its root causes.
Second Harvest Food Bank is a certified member of Feeding America (formerly known as America's Second Harvest), a network of food banks and food distribution programs in the United States. This membership allows Second Harvest Food Bank to cooperate with other member food banks, to receive food from national corporate food donors, and to benefit from national publicity and mutual support.
For more information, please see the following:
Brief History:
The Food Bank, Inc. of Santa Clara County was formed in 1974 by Economic and Social Opportunities, and incorporated as a non-profit agency in 1979. In 1988, the San Mateo County Food Bank merged with The Food Bank, Inc. of Santa Clara County to become Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties.
In 1992, Second Harvest Food Bank moved into a new 65,000 square foot warehouse in San Jose which serves as its main food distribution center. In June of 1995, the Peninsula Distribution Center began serving San Mateo County in a newly renovated 22,000 square foot warehouse in San Carlos.
Non-Discrimination Policy
All persons seeking access to services, employment, volunteer work or membership on a committee or governing body of Second Harvest Food Bank will be accorded equal treatment, regardless of age (except as provided by law), ancestry, color, creed, disabled veteran, marital status, national origin, qualified disabled individual, race, religion, sex (except as provided by law), sexual orientation, or veteran of the Vietnam War.