Food Banks Receiving Needed Relief
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Inyo County Second District Supervisor Jeff Griffiths is pleased to announce much-needed relief is coming to local food banks and other charitable organizations this winter thanks to a generous grant from Edison International.
The $20,000 in aid was initially granted to the Eastern Sierra Foundation, on whose all-volunteer board Supervisor Griffiths serves as treasurer, in response to the government shutdown that delayed CalFresh (food stamp) benefits to 2,087 Inyo County residents and their families. CalFresh benefits are funded 100% with federal dollars and there were no mechanisms in place for state and/or local governments to temporarily continue benefits with non-federal funds. Eastern Sierra Foundation had designated the grant funding specifically for those CalFresh recipients whose food security was threatened.
With CalFresh benefits resumed at the end of the shutdown on November 12, Edison International was generous enough to allow Eastern Sierra Foundation to pivot and re-distribute the money to local foods banks and other organizations instead. According to Supervisor Griffiths, the following entities will be receiving a portion of the Edison International grant to bolster their food reserves and support their general efforts to provide food security to local families:
St. Vincent de Paul
Eastside Student Center
United Methodist Social Services Soup Kitchen
Owens Valley Growers for food banking in Independence and Lone Pine
Inyo-Mono Community Advocates for Community Action (IMACA)
The latter donation, Supervisor Griffiths said, will enable IMACA to resume food commodity distributions to Southeast Inyo communities like Shoshone, Tecopa, and Charleston View. Hit hard by federal funding cutbacks, IMACA had been forced to cancel distributions to far-flung communities in both Inyo and Mono counties – much to its own dismay and that of residents.
“I cannot express my gratitude enough to both Edison International and the Eastern Sierra Foundation for collaborating with these groups to help ensure nobody goes hungry this winter,” Supervisor Griffiths said. “The recipient organizations also ought to be commended for their tireless efforts to assist our community members in need.”
Supervisor Will Wadelton, whose District 5 includes Southeast Inyo, was equally grateful.
“The loss of IMACA’s commodities distributions was devastating to the residents of Shoshone, Tecopa, and Charleston View, a great percentage of whom are on very fixed incomes,” he said. “I can’t thank Edison International, Eastern Sierra Foundation, and IMACA enough for coming together to address this very real and very serious crisis.”
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