Community Environmental Council

COVID-19 RESOURCES

Help Build A Stronger Food Rescue Network

CEC is compiling and managing a centralized database that identifies all the players in charitable food distribution, as well as gaps in service. Among other purposes, this hub is being used to help match donors who have excess food with agencies who can get it to those in need.

Through this county-wide database, any organization supporting charitable food donation, delivery, or distribution during this time is encouraged to share their activities and where they need help. The collected information is available for any organization to view and can be filtered to focus on an agency’s area of interest. Sign Up 

DOUBLE Your Support for SBC Food Rescue

CEC is working to scale SBC Food Rescue out of its initial pilot into a robust match-making network of food donors and agencies that serve those in need throughout Santa Barbara County. Your support will help coordinate the many good  efforts in our region, and connect them with quality rescued food that would otherwise be sent to the landfill. Donations made by June 30, 2020 will be DOUBLED by CEC’s Leadership Match Fund.

Message from CEC

Since 2018, SBC Food Rescue has matched donors that have excess, nutritious food with organizations serving food insecure populations. This CEC-led network has coordinated the rescue of nearly 60,000 pounds of edible food for distribution through more than a dozen agencies, including Buellton Senior Center, Casa Serena, PATH, and Salvation Army Hospitality House. Beyond helping people, food rescue mitigates climate impacts by keeping high quality excess prepared food out of landfills, where it decomposes and emits methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

But in the early weeks of the pandemic, it became clear that Santa Barbara County Food Rescue needed to become about more than saving food. As widespread unemployment and extended stay-at-home orders left an unprecedented number of Santa Barbara County residents without the means or ability to feed themselves and their families, it was now about saving people.

In this time of unprecedented crisis, the food system is being asked to flex in ways we never expected. We can expect, however, that COVID-19 will not be our last crisis. We must be prepared to weather future disruptions to our food system and ensure a continuous supply of safe, accessible food for our community.

Above are a few ways you can engage with our food rescue efforts. Together, we can create a culture of preparedness and build resilience to other major threats, including the increasing impacts of climate change.