Courtesy Produce Marketing Association SALINAS, Calif. — Exhibitors at the Produce Marketing Association Foodservice Conference and Exposition donated 14,835 pounds of fresh produce to Salinas-based The Food Bank for Monterey County.
It took about six days for volunteers to finish distributing the load to its destinations, Leslie Sunny, the food bank’s executive director, said in a news release. The donations were picked up July 22 in Monterey as the exposition came to an end.
The food bank serves about 88,700 recipients annually, or 20% of Monterey County’s population, according to a study done for the organization in 2010.
“Despite living in the ‘salad bowl of the world,’ the low-income clients served by The Food Bank for Monterey County often lack highly nutritious foods like fruits and vegetables in their diets,” Sunny said in the release.
The organization has been picking up donations at the conference for 15 years.
A more recent report from food bank network Feeding America, “Map the Meal Gap: Child Food Insecurity 2012,” found 27% of the county’s children suffer food insecurity. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates their number here at 29,000.
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