Forty years is a long time to keep showing up.
The Food Bank of Nevada County has been doing just that for our community, week after week, year after year, since 1986.
Thousands of mornings spent unloading trucks and sorting produce. Thousands of bags packed, shelves stocked, school lunches prepared and home deliveries made to homebound neighbors. Farmers sharing their bounty, businesses stepping in to help, donors giving what they can and volunteers returning week after week to ensure the work is done.
Together, these acts represent 40 years of Nevada County neighbors affirming that access to fresh, nutritious food matters.
This year, the Food Bank of Nevada County celebrates four decades of serving our community.
A lot has changed in Nevada County since 1986.
The cost of living has surged. The ways we source and distribute food have evolved. Programs have grown, partnerships have expanded and the needs facing local families have become increasingly complex.
But the heart of the work has remained remarkably consistent: connecting people with nutritious food while building a community in which fewer people have to worry about where their next meal will come from.
Today, the Food Bank of Nevada County helps provide food to approximately 20,000 people each month through direct distributions across the county, a network of community partners and schools, and home delivery for neighbors who face barriers accessing food.
Behind that number are thousands of individual stories.
It is the parent balancing groceries against rent, childcare and utilities.
It is the senior living on a fixed income who can no longer make the same grocery budget stretch through the month.
And it is someone who never expected to need food assistance at all. A car repair, medical bill or reduction in work hours can quickly leave a household without enough money for groceries.
There is no single story of food insecurity, just as there is no single kind of person who walks through our doors.
That understanding has shaped not only how the Food Bank has grown, but how we work to reach people throughout the county.
Our School Snack Program brings nutritious food into local schools, helping to fill the gaps between meals. Home Delivery reaches those facing barriers to getting to a distribution. Our community partners extend access throughout Nevada County. Fresh produce and nutritious foods remain an important part of what we source and provide, including food grown right here in our region whenever possible.
And behind every one of those programs is a network of people making it possible.
In 2025 alone, 243 volunteers contributed more than 5,000 hours to the Food Bank. Local farmers, schools, businesses, organizations, donors and community partners contribute in countless other ways.
This is why our 40th anniversary belongs to far more than the Food Bank itself.
It belongs to everyone who has packed a bag, written a check, dropped off a food donation, grown an extra row of vegetables, organized a food drive, helped feed a student, made a delivery, shared our work with a neighbor or simply asked, “How can I help?”
The Next Chapter
Forty years in, the work is changing again.
Reductions in food assistance and other resources are placing additional pressure on households and the local organizations that serve them. Meeting this moment requires more than distributing food. It means strengthening partnerships, improving access to nutritious options, meeting people where they are and continuing to address hunger at its roots.
That is the work ahead of us.
There are many ways to be part of the Food Bank’s next chapter. You can make a donation, become a monthly donor, volunteer or organize a food drive. Learn more and support the Food Bank of Nevada County.
In the coming months, as we celebrate 40 years, we will be sharing some of the people and stories that have shaped the Food Bank of Nevada County: volunteers, clients, farmers, donors, staff, schools, businesses and community partners.
Some have been part of this work for decades. Others have only recently joined us. Together, they tell the story of what the Food Bank really is: not simply a building or a distribution site, but a community of people choosing to take care of one another.
Forty years ago, a group of people in Nevada County believed their neighbors should have access to food.
Forty years later, this community is still showing up.
As we begin the next chapter, we invite our neighbors to keep showing up with us. Donate, volunteer, host a food drive or share our work. Every act of support helps ensure that nutritious food is available when someone in our community needs it.
Visit foodbankofnc.org to learn more.