PROGRAMS

The Marin Food Bank partners with over 70 agencies throughout the county to provide food resources to community based organizations, local churches, and public schools.

Local neighborhood pantries provide healthy groceries, while seniors can receive food through our home delivered grocery and brown bag programs, and our warehouse is open to community organizations to shop for foods to complement their programming


Please click on any of the following links to learn more about the Food Bank’s Programs:

 

PANTRY NETWORK
Through our network of 20 food distribution sites, we provide thousands of people with the food they need to cook healthy meals in their own homes. Weekly farmers’ market-style distributions allow participants to select the foods that best meet their families’ needs. From fresh fruits and vegetables to bread and rice, each household receives much-needed, nutritious foods that are otherwise unaffordable.


Neighborhood Grocery Network
In partnership with the Food Bank, a network of neighborhood distribution programs located at places of worship and community centers throughout the County give food to those in need. Distributing free weekly groceries to households of low-income families and individuals, neighborhood grocery pantries provide a critical food safety net for residents not reached by other hunger-relief programs.

Healthy Children’s Pantries
When children don’t receive proper nutrition, they have a difficult time learning, growing and thriving. The Food Bank established the Healthy Children Pantry program to provide critical nourishment to the children of low-income families. The program distributes fresh fruits, vegetables, pasta, dairy and other items every week through agencies that serve children and their families exclusively. The pantries are primarily held at public schools or childcare centers.

 

Brown Bag and Home Delivered Grocery Programs
The Brown Bag and Home-Delivered Grocery programs bring healthy groceries to nearly 500 isolated, home bound, or seriously ill individuals who are still able to plan and prepare their own meals. These programs ensure that seniors are not forced to choose between buying food or paying for rent, utilities and medications.

Senior Brown Bag Program
The Senior Brown Bag program provides nutritious groceries to low income adults age 60 and over. Food is distributed either pre-bagged or farmer’s market-style semi-monthly at senior centers and senior housings sites throughout Marin County. For isolated seniors the Brown Bag program also offers opportunities for social interaction.

Home Delivered Groceries
The Home Delivered Grocery program serves low income seniors in need of food resources who are homebound or have disabilities that prevent them from being able to shop for groceries. Nutritious bags of groceries are delivered semi-monthly directly to the recipient’s door.


Compassion In Action
The Compassion in Action program offers home delivered healthy groceries to nearly 20 distressed families whose primary caretakers are struggling from a severe life threatening health crisis, such as AIDS or Cancer. Families are eligible to receive semi-monthly groceries for period of three months and have an option to renew for an additional three months if needed. Referrals for the program typically come from local hospitals, social service agencies, or Marin Health and Human Services.

 

Shopping Program
Over 50 nonprofit agencies come to the Food Bank weekly to select groceries and fresh produce. “Shopping" at the Food Bank enables agencies to more comprehensively meet the needs of their clients. Agencies shop to support a broad range of programming from simple youth snacks to larger, more complex hot meal programs.

Morning Snacks for Kids
Working in partnership with public schools, the Food Bank provides healthy morning snacks to local schools with  a high percentage of children who qualify for free and reduced priced school meals.

  
Supplemental Food for Seniors and Mothers
The Supplemental Food Box program provides a monthly box of nutritious USDA food to low-income seniors, pregnant women, women up to one year postpartum, and children under the age of six. Whistle Stop serves as the primary distribution site in Marin County.

Fresh Rescue
Over 20,000 pounds of food is collected from over 20 local grocery stores throughout Marin County each week. Produce and other perishables are picked up several times a week and rushed to our pantry partners to ensure that participants receive this valuable food resource while it is still fresh.