FoodHelp breaks ground on expansion

From left: Marty Fehn, director of FoodHelp; Ivan Sulic, field representative for Supervisor Janice Hahn; Beth Gendrea, Maria Arencibia, and Jim Wilkinson. (Photo by Alex Dominguez)

DOWNEY — First Christian Church held a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday for an expansion of its FoodHelp food bank.

Founded in 2005, FoodHelp has served 72 local cities and 129 zip codes around the Los Angeles, Orange, and Ventura Counties area with food for individuals in need.

According to Jim Wilkinson, the food bank has seen a huge growth in need over the past year.

“2019, we served at the food bank 5,479 families. So far in 2020, 9,957 just from January to August,” said Wilkinson. “That’s 180 plus percent increase.”

Work on the new storage structure is currently scheduled to begin mid-October and finish around December or January.

Several notable officials were in attendance to commemorate the project.

Downey Mayor Blanca Pacheco. (Photo by Alex Dominguez)

Representing the office of Supervisor Janice Hahn was Field Deputy Ivan Sulic.

“It’s truly been a pleasure to be a part of the FoodHelp family,” said Sulic. “Throughout the years, our office has been committed to donating, to honoring the volunteers, because there have been some amazing volunteers that I have had the pleasure of meeting.”

“I’ve had the pleasure of meeting the individuals who are served by this food bank; individuals who need that extra help, need that extra assistance, and FoodHelp has been there for them…It’s been a pleasure to see the evolution.”

Also in attendance was Mayor Blanca Pacheco.

“I was first introduced to FoodHelp back prior to city council during my time as president of the Kiwanis Club,” said Pacheco. “There are some amazing volunteers that we have here at FoodHelp…These are people within the community who truly care about the community, and that’s what FoodHelp is.”

“This year was a year where our community needed us the most, needed FoodHelp the most. FoodHelp stepped up and they helped the community.”

The project was funded through donations from The Kaiser Foundation, Supervisor Hahn, Baker Electric, and other private donors.