Dispatches From Riverside County: Feeding America Riverside and San Bernardino Counties 

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians as the San Miguel Band of Mission Indians. We apologize for the error.

On a quiet Riverside street sits a 70,000 square foot warehouse. From the outside, it looks like any other storage facility: high walls, a line of loading docks and a driveway large enough for semi-trucks to come and go. But inside, the building is decorated with colorful murals depicting fresh produce, sunshine and even a homey bungalow with a real red door. 

This is the central hub of Feeding America Riverside and San Bernardino Counties (FARSB), a food bank that provides groceries to about 250 local distribution sites throughout the Inland Empire.

Using food from this warehouse, local food pantries are able to provide as many as 30 million meals to needy residents each year. 

On a recent weekday, about 15 volunteers of all ages buzzed around the warehouse floor — sorting canned goods and other donations into large containers, removing damaged items and verifying expiration dates. Food bank staff glided over the smooth floors on forklifts, depositing payloads of food on racks of ceiling-high shelving. 

“The volunteer area is the heart of our warehouse,” said Rachel Bonilla, FARSB’s marketing and engagement manager. “We have morning and afternoon volunteer shifts, Monday through Friday, and some days it gets nice and busy.” 

Many of the volunteers work at the warehouse. Others volunteer at gleaning sites in the nearby agricultural areas, picking fruit and other produce left behind in farmers’ fields after harvest. Still others participate in food distributions at partner food pantries throughout Riverside and San Bernardino counties. 

Bonilla estimated that 28,000 people volunteer each year in support of the food bank’s permanent staff of about 40 employees to serve all of Riverside and San Bernardino counties, which Bonilla characterized as a “high need, high resource” area. 

“We have a lot of people coming to us because they need food assistance, but we have a lot of people in our community who want to help us, too,” Bonilla said. 

Because Riverside and San Bernardino counties include large agricultural areas, as well as major food storage facilities, FARSB can rely on significant quantities of donated food items, including fresh produce as well as shelf-stable goods like canned vegetables and cereals. FARSB also supplements these donations by directly purchasing food items from local farmers, using funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Emergency Food Assistance Program. 

About 12% of the Riverside County population is below the federal poverty line, Bonilla said, while the poverty rate in San Bernardino County runs about 14%. About 1 in 4 children in Riverside and San Bernardino are food insecure. Bonilla estimated that children comprise about one half of all people who receive food through FARSB. 

Although FARSB occasionally does direct food distribution events at its warehouse, the organization’s major activity is to provide food items to local food pantries, many of them located at churches or small community centers throughout the Inland Empire. FARSB feeds about 300,000 residents each month through its network of partner pantries, Bonilla said. 

FARSB uses a sophisticated online inventory system to keep track of food items that come into the warehouse. Through an online portal, local food pantries can access up-to-the-hour information about what food items are available in the warehouse. They can also order bundles of food items, typically measured in shipping pallets, directly through the online portal. Bonilla compared the ordering system to Instacart — but for local food distribution sites.

“We were really lucky. As a non-profit, we can’t always afford the best and brightest tech,” Bonilla said. “But the Yuhaaviatam Nation, also called the San [Manuel] Band of Mission Indians, actually donated the [online ordering and inventory] system. They’re one of our big supporters.”

The Yuhaaviatam Nation also donated a state-of-the-art refrigeration chamber, complete with a room-sized freezer, as well as many of the floor-to-ceiling racks that anchor the space.

As well as supplying local food pantries, FARSB also delivers meal kits directly to the homes of elderly and disabled residents. This program actually began during COVID, Bonilla said. 

“The COVID pandemic highlighted a need we didn’t even know was there, and fortunately we were able to rise to the challenge,” she said. “We’re proud we’ve been able to meet that need, and to keep the program going.” 

The Nourish Now program provides meals to approximately 500 individuals every month.

During the COVID pandemic, food banks received a steady stream of emergency funding in response to spiking food insecurity. After the pandemic, however, much of this emergency funding stopped — but the level of need stayed high, Bonilla said. She estimated that the need for food assistance in Riverside and San Bernardino counties has nearly doubled since prior to the COVID pandemic. 

“The past year has been kind of unprecedented,” Bonilla said. “A lot of things have been coming at us, including funding cuts and changes to SNAP benefits.” 

Still, FARSB continues to serve people in need throughout the vast territory it covers, thanks to donations and other assistance. 

“We’re not going anywhere,” Bonilla said.

More information about ways to support FARSB can found here on the organization’s website.

Dispatches from Riverside County is a semi-regular feature where The Riverside Record highlights local businesses that make Riverside County what it is. If you know a business that you think should be featured, email publisher Alicia Ramirez at Alicia.Ramirez@RiversideRecord.org.