FOOD Share—Ventura County’s food bank and distribution network—announces another tool to fight hunger: a mobile pantry.

FOOD Share and Friends, the name chosen for the mobile pantry, will be introduced to the community during an open house from 5 to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 25, at the FOOD Share distribution center, 4156 Southbank Road, Oxnard. Tours of the mobile pantry will be available and hors d’oeuvres will be served.

The FOOD Share and Friends mobile pantry is designed to reach those in need living in underserved areas and food deserts without nearby access to one of FOOD Share’s 180 traditional food pantries and programs available in Ventura County. The mobile pantry operators will also offer food demonstrations for food insecure families to educate them on the benefits of healthy eating habits.In addition to providing healthy foods, FOOD Share is collaborating with a host of social service providers, such as Ventura County Health Care Agency and the County of Ventura Human Services Agency, to connect people with a network of essential services through FOOD Share and Friends that include: healthcare, dental health and employment training.

Extensive research performed by California State University, Channel Islands’ California Institute for Social Business surveyed the entire county by census tract to identify areas where health, employment, food security and housing were most in need of improvement. FOOD Share and Friends will make those census tracts a preferred destination.

Poverty statistics do not cover the total number of people in Ventura County who need help buying food on a regular basis. In addition to families consisting of two adults and two children who fall below the poverty level of $22,048 per year in a county where the living wage per family is $48,443--there are families living above the official poverty rate who face challenges in meeting basic food, housing and health care needs.

For information or to RSVP to the FOOD Share and Friends Mobile Pantry debut event, call Jessica Entrekin at 805-983-7100, ext. 129 or jentrekin@foodshare.com.

Event Information:
Who: FOOD Share
What: FOOD Share and Friends Mobile Pantry unveiling
When: Wednesday, March 25, from 5-7:30 p.m.
Where: FOOD Share, 4156 Southbank Road, Oxnard, Calif. 93036

About FOOD Share:
More than 35 years ago, eight citizens performed a good deed by distributing food to those who were in need underneath a Ventura bridge. The early philanthropic movement quickly formed into what is now Ventura County’s regional food bank, FOOD Share, which has grown from serving a few hundred hungry people per month to 74,500 people. Today, staff and volunteers distribute more than 10 million pounds of food annually from two warehouses; more than 180 partner agencies, which include neighborhood and church food distributions and soup kitchens; as well as hunger assistance programs. FOOD Share’s programs provide healthy nutrition and education to children, families and seniors, which include: Kids’ Farmers Market, SENIOR Share, Nutrition Education, Community Market, SoCal Gas CARE Program and more. A 501(c)3 non-profit organization, FOOD Share is a member of the Feeding America network, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization. For more information about FOOD Share, visitwww.foodshare.com. Find us on Facebook and Twitter.