Emergency Food - includes links and information on food safety practices and how to maintain a successful food closet. |
Sierra Arden Neighborhood Food Closet
Sierra Arden utilizes local food banks (Senior Gleaners and FoodLink), a local supermarket, the food drives and monetary donations of local churches and occasional donations from individual's gardens in order to fill the bags of food they distribute. Around forty-five volunteers a month assist the food closet in pick-up and transport of food, sorting, shelving, distribution and record keeping. According to Nina, they always need more volunteers-particularly for less popular tasks like picking up food donations. The food closet is also looking for donations of unused sandwich bags and food storage bags. They would also like to install a shelf that would run along the top of the food closet walls to increase their storage capacity. Nina is hoping to get the shelving, as well as the carpentry needed to install it, donated. If you can donate any of these, please contact Nina Nelson at (916) 487-3640. Sierra Arden Neighborhood Food Closet is open every Tuesday to Friday from 10:oo am to 11:45 am. People requesting food need to bring identification for each member of their family. Sierra Arden Neighborhood Food Closet serves zip codes 95825 and 95864.
Sacramento Hunger Commission's Americorps*VISTA, Jenny Holliday,
will periodically be touring food closets in Sacramento. Look for another
food closet interview by Jenny in the upcoming months. [Top]
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The
Sierra Arden Neighborhood Food Closet began in 1978 as a small service
to the needy within the attached church's congregation. Currently the
closet serves between 700 and 900 people a month by providing them with
nine meals per family member. The meals are based on a guideline developed
by local food bank FoodLink that follows the food guide pyramid recommended
by the federal government. Yet, families do have choices within this guideline--would
they like bagels or sliced bread? Prefer yogurt or cottage cheese? These
choices combined with the dedication I witnessed of Sierra Arden director,
Nina Nelson, and long-time volunteer George, make the food closet effective
in the combat against hunger while maintaining the dignity of the people
they serve.
Families
are also given food that reflects their specific situation: homeless people
(approximately 20 are served per month) receive ready to eat food that
does not need to be cooked, fresh milk is usually reserved for families
with small children, and, although the volunteers stress the importance
of a balanced diet, sweets are included and the closet does not force
a type of food onto someone if they do not want it. Twice people came
to the closet during our interview and, despite the food closet being
closed, they were each given a generous bag of food to tide them over
until the next day when the closet would be open--no questions asked.
The single mom with five kids was urged to take a sweet for each child,
as well as granola bars for a more nutritious snack. As Nina said several
times, "No one is ever turned away".
