Children’s Health Initiative: 44% of those served by the Foodbank are under the age of 18. The Foodbank is committed to finding a solution for childhood hunger and responded by launching the Children’s Health Initiative. This included the implemention the Feed the Future programs, a set of sequential programs designed to foster nutritional independence and health in children from the womb to high school graduation. At the Foodbank we are not just concerned with keeping people fed today. We are working to create innovative programs that will use good nutrition to ensure the healthy future of our community.

To learn more about our national recognized programs, please click on the program name:

--Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies
--BackPack Program
--Food Literacy in Preschool
--Kid's Farmers Market
--Picnic in the Park Program
--Healthy School Pantry
--Teens Love Cooking
--Nutritional Independence
________________________________________________________

On the other end of the age spectrum, the Foodbank manages the Brown Bag Program for seniors countywide.

Brown Bag Program designed to provide bags of groceries to low-income senior citizens.  more...________________________________________________________

Part of the Foodbank's solution to building a food secure community involves teaching people how to grow their own food and allowing the community to donate produce from their own properties.

Backyard Bounty Program: This gleaning program collects the extra food growing in the backyards of Santa Barbara County and helps provide fresh produce to Foodbank member agencies. more...

Grow Your Own Way Program seeks to empower those it serves by sharing food growing knowledge and skills. From container gardens for apartment dwellers, to developing new community garden sites, to working with local farmers to develop food growing cooperatives, the program trains Foodbank recipients to grow some of their own food and gain a new perspective of their role in the food system. more...
________________________________________________________

Half of all food distributed from the Foodbank is produce. Through the Produce Initiative, the Foodbank is able to secure and distribute millions of pounds of fresh, local and regional produce. For example, the Foodbank uses Mobile Farmer's Markets to efficiently and effectively distribute produce to underserved areas of Santa Barbara County. more...

Mobile Food Pantry:  Providing scheduled delivery and distribution to 11 rural and under served areas not reached by traditional hunger-relief programs.  more...

Grocery Rescue Program: In collaboration with local grocery store chains, the Foodbank collects perishable goods on a daily basis to distribute through its network. Over 800,000 pounds of top quality product is collected annually. more...

Disaster Relief: In coordination with other disaster relief organizations, the Foodbank aims to work cooperatively and act as a conduit for donated food and other essential grocery items for the purpose of disaster relief. more...