FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 30, 2020

Media Inquiries:
Vivien Minton
Marketing Director
vminton@foodshare.com
(805) 822-8027

FOOD SHARE SELECTED AS A CA NONPROFIT OF THE YEAR

(OXNARD, CA) – Food Share of Ventura County is honored to have been selected as a 2020 California Nonprofit of the Year by Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin. Food Share, the largest hunger relief organization in the county, is one of over a hundred nonprofits that will be honored by their state senators and assemblymembers for their outstanding contributions to the communities they serve.

“The pandemic and shelter-in-place orders of the last few months have put nonprofits – usually hidden in plain sight – in the spotlight,” explained Jan Masaoka, CEO of the California Association of Nonprofits (CalNonprofits). “California Nonprofit of the Year is an opportunity for our elected officials to celebrate the good work they see nonprofits doing in their districts, and for everyone to appreciate the collective impact of nonprofits in our communities.”

Commenting on her reasons for selecting Food Share, Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin commented, “Food Share has been leading the fight against hunger in Ventura County for over 40 years, but they have truly proven the power of their mission through meeting the increasing demand of hungry families brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.” She added, “Their work in distributing food to nearly 750,000 individuals since the start of the pandemic has played a vital role in holding our community together during our greatest hour of need. For that I am happy to designate them the 44th Assembly District’s 2020 Nonprofit of the Year.”

Monica White, President & CEO of Food Share said, “Thank you to Assemblymember Irwin for this wonderful honor. I’m so proud of the team here at Food Share and our network of community partners who have all worked tirelessly to ensure that no one in our community goes hungry.”

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For more information on Food Share’s work in the community:

• Up-to-date information on temporary pantry closures, pop-up distribution sites and emergency volunteer opportunities will be posted at foodshare.com/covid19 and on Food Share’s social media channels.
• Information can also be found on Food Share’s new app, available at the App Store and Google Play. Search: Food Share of Ventura County.
• For information on free Senior Food Kit distributions go to foodshare.com/seniorkits.
• VCAAA also has information and resources for seniors at vcaaa.org/covid-19/.
• You can make a donation in support of Food Share at foodshare.com/give.

About Food Share of Ventura County:

Since 1978, Food Share has been feeding the hungry in Ventura County. It all began when eight friends banded together to provide food to those in need in Ventura, CA. The early philanthropic movement started in a family garage, quickly outgrew a donated fire station in Saticoy and now operates in Oxnard, CA with two warehouses with a combined 36,000 square feet. Today, staff and volunteers distribute over 13 million pounds of food, or over 11 million meals, annually through its 190 pantry and program partners. As Ventura County’s food bank, Food Share provides food for 75,000 hungry friends and neighbors monthly. Food Share is a member of Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization, as well as the California Association of Food Banks. For more information about Food Share, visit www.foodshare.com. Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

About CA Nonprofit of the Year:

For the last five years, legislators from across California have chosen a Nonprofit of the Year in their district. Traditionally, Chair of the Assembly Select Committee on the Nonprofit Sector Assemblywoman Monique Limón (Santa Barbara) and CalNonprofits invited legislators and honorees to a celebratory luncheon on California Nonprofits Day. This year, the June luncheon was canceled in response to the Shelter-in-Place orders, but legislators have moved forward with honoring nonprofits doing great work in their districts. 

According to “Causes Count,” a 2019 report commissioned by CalNonprofits, the nonprofit sector is the 4th largest industry in the state, employing more than 1.2 million people. Each year, California nonprofits generate more than $273 billion in revenue and bring in $40 billion in revenue from outside of California. The unpaid labor contributed by volunteers at nonprofits is equivalent to 330,000 full-time jobs every year.

Debido a este requisito, queríamos dejar en claro que Food Share of Ventura County no es una agencia gubernamental y no aprueba ni respalda a ningún candidato político.