North County Food Bank Expands Services with Newly Leased Vista Warehouse

The North County Food Bank marked its third month of operations in its newly-leased 30,000-square-foot warehouse distribution center in Vista.The move to the food bank’s new home completes the second phase of the organization’s North County Hunger Initiative – an aggressive plan established by Food Bank officials to double the amount of food and resources the nonprofit distributes to underserved individuals and families throughout the region.

“Our North County expansion began in October 2015 when the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank acquired the North County Food Bank. The acquisition has enabled both food banks to meet previously unmet need in North County, and it expanded the food bank’s network of nonprofit distribution partners to more than 500. With additional resources from the acquisition, the North County Food Bank is now serving 30,000 more people every month in communities throughout North County,” said James Floros, CEO of the San Diego Food Bank and North County Food Bank.

The North County Food Bank’s newly leased facility in Vista is 30,000 sq. ft. and has multiple loading docks to safely accommodate nonprofit partners, who pick up food from the warehouse. [Photo by: Jeff Beeler]

The North County Food Bank previously operated from a 5,000-square-foot leased warehouse in San Marcos. Its small size, lack of loading docks and subpar refrigeration unit became a barrier to expanding food distribution services. This led food bank officials to set out to find a new facility to meet the growing nonprofit’s needs.Currently, the North County Food Bank distributes more than 6 million pounds of food, including fresh produce, annually to the North County region. Food bank officials anticipate that the amount of food it distributes and the number of families served monthly will significantly increase following the opening of the new Vista facility.

“We are very excited about our move to Vista. We were operating in a very small facility in San Marcos that could not accommodate the sheer volume of food that we need to receive and distribute to those in need across the North County region,” said Floros.

“Our new facility features multiple loading docks, walk-in refrigeration units, warehouse racking for food storage, a client-choice food pantry for families to receive emergency food packages, and a dedicated volunteer work area in thebody of the warehouse. This area will provide much needed additional space for large volunteer groups to support our vital mission by inspecting, sorting and packaging food for those in need in North County,” said Floros. The newly leased facility will also serve as the San Diego Food Banks’ new Diaper Bank Program staging hub which will facilitate the distribution of more than half-a-million emergency diapers every month for families in need countywide. The Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank and its North County Food Bank chapter are the only registered diaper bank in San Diego County.