About Us
Founded in 1979, the Mendocino Food & Nutrition Program (the Fort Bragg Food Bank) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation. Our objective is to distribute emergency food to and improve the nutrition of needy residents of Mendocino County.
In 1993, we moved into our current location, a 4,800 square foot warehouse in Fort Bragg, CA. with help from a Community Development Block Grant. We own this facility free and clear. With additional funding from Mazon, S.H. Cowell foundation and local donors, we installed walk-in refrigeration, pallet shelving, a kitchen and purchased forklifts and vehicles. We currently own two delivery trucks (one with refrigeration) and one van. In 2011, through a Community Development Block Grant, we replaced our walk-in freezer with a larger more efficient one and installed a generator to power our food distribution facility (including refrigeration) to get us through all too frequent winter power outages. We also received funding through a USDA Rural Development agency grant to maintain our facility and to add a weather-shelter over our outside produce sorting area.
We have received funding for food, nutrition education, and/or operational expense through various government and private groups most recently including: Emergency Food Assistance Program (EFAP), Commodities Supplemental Food Assistance Program (CSFP), Feeding America Program, Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP), Mendocino County Department of Social Services Hunger Task Force, First 5, Vitamin Cases Consumer Settlement Fund, Tobacco Settlement Revenue Grants (CPIA), The California Endowment, The Community Foundation of Mendocino County, the JG Cummings Foundation, the Carol Young Brooke Foundation, PG&E, Wells Fargo and The United Way.
We are generously supported by individuals and businesses in our local community whose cash donations typically make up half of our cash budget and whose food donations make up about 45% of the food we distribute. The annual Season of Sharing campaign run by Sharon DiMauro, publisher of the Fort Bragg Advocate News, is a major source of financial support for the Food Bank.
We are a 501(c)(3) organization. Our Federal Tax ID number is 94-2577092. Our legal name is Mendocino Food and Nutrition Program Inc. We are known locally as The Fort Bragg Food Bank.
Our organization undergoes a financial audit annually.
In accordance with Federal law this organization does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, political beliefs or disability.
