ABSTRACT
Sacramento’s main food bank is housed in a large brick building on the edge of Oak Park, one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. It shares the premises with a clothing bank, a nutritional education center, and various other social service programs. Every day, supermarkets and restaurants donate surplus, often outdated foods; community residents drive up and drop off bags; and sometimes farmers come in with extra produce. Inside the warehouse, a small staff— backed up by a network of volunteers—sort through the large quantities of donated food, divide it into categories—breads, vegetables, sweets, dairy, miscellaneous, USDA (canned vegetables, pasta, some canned fruit), cereal, ramen noodles—and prepare for the rush of hungry folks who start lining up each morning long before ten o’clock, when the food bank officially opens.
