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About one in four people in Alameda County don’t have access to the food they need, according to the Alameda County Community Food Bank.
Open Heart Kitchen, a nonprofit working to address this problem and other needs in the Tri-Valley, is set to launch the area’s first large-scale food distribution site in Livermore this fall.
The OHK Food Bank will be able to redistribute millions of pounds of food to local food pantries at places like Tri-Valley Haven and Las Positas College. Though the date of operation is not yet set, soon it will serve as a much-needed intermediary between the eastern part of the county and the ACCFB, a nonprofit food distributor and advocacy group.
Food banks aren’t just for “emergency” distribution anymore; at this point, they’re for food distribution, said John Bost, executive director of OHK.
A sneak-peek tour of the facility last week revealed a building fitted with roll-up doors to receive food shipments from the ACCFB, towering pallet racks for food storage and a giant walk-in fridge and freezer.
They will focus on distributing fresh produce like veggies and fruits. But they will also move milk, eggs, fresh and frozen proteins, canned goods, pastas, rice and beans, Bost said.
The facility is expected to boost OHK’s annual food distributions from 875,000 pounds of food every year to over three million pounds, within the first five years of operation, according to the OHK website.
“It’s just amazing seeing all this,” Livermore resident Katie Beauchamp said after the tour. “I really hope that it gets used to benefit a lot of people.”
Distribution from the new facility does not have a set start-date, but the food bank will soon join the ranks of OHK’s food-related initiatives like community meals, street outreach and senior meals.
It also comes as another installment in a busy year for the organization. In January, it opened the Vineyard Resource Center, a site for comprehensive services and amenities like overnight shelter at the Open Heart Refuge, prepared meals, free showers, case management and more.
“All the different things they’re doing have been really encouraging, meeting people’s needs in so many different ways,” tour attendee Sandy Sage said.
OHK began setting up the new food bank after being selected by the ACCFB to be its redistribution organization for eastern Alameda County.
The food bank in Livermore is meant to alleviate the burden of small-quantity, cross-country transport, which has been inefficient in terms of time and money.
In the near future, the majority of products will be sourced from ACCFB. But in the coming years, OHK also plans to work with local farms to source produce, according to Bost.
“We’re especially excited at the prospect of working with BIPOC farmers in Northern California who are often underrepresented in conversations around food sourcing,” he told Livermore Vine.
The early-access tour was a collaboration between OHK and the Livermore Public Library for its Summer Learning program.
“Part of our goal for Summer Learning was to provide learning opportunities for the public and to also showcase the organizations that are making our community stronger, healthier, and Open Heart Kitchen is at the forefront of that effort,” said Emily Lowell, supervising librarian at the Livermore Public Library.
Currently OHK is seeking the donations of new items for the Vineyard Resource Center. Requested items include laundry detergent, dryer sheets, shampoo, conditioner, T-shirts, underwear, socks, backpacks and more. Donations can be dropped off at any of the Livermore Public Library locations in donation barrels through Aug. 14.
For more information about OHK and its programs, visit openheartkitchen.org.
