Snapshot:
Food Para Todos provides bins of fresh fruit and vegetables for over 30 daycare providers across Merced, with the goal of reaching 50 by the end of the year.
On a recent Wednesday morning, a dozen volunteers sorted through a cornucopia of donated fruits and vegetables in the backyard of what is known as the Yellow House in downtown Merced.
“We have grapes, jicama, carrots, eggplant,” said Galilea Tellez, one of the leaders of the group.
That organization, Food Para Todos, started in 2017 as part of the nonprofit Community Initiatives for Collective Impact. It first launched as a food pantry, then as pop-up fridges around Merced County – but now focuses on food bin distributions. Their largest project, Family and Nutrition Hubs (FanHubs), distributes boxes for at-home daycare facilities weekly for a small donation.
“When we’re blessed, we do two containers per family, per child care [facility,]” Tellez said.
The organization partners with local grocery stores and school districts to redirect food that would have gone into the landfill into the hands of those in need.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, at-home daycare leaders came to Food Para Todos to ask for help with getting more food for their students and families.
In 2020, about a third of children in Merced County, roughly 78,000 kids, received CalFresh benefits, according to state data. These days, that number hasn’t changed by much.
Which is why daycare drop offs are a big part of what Food Para Todos does. The organization provides bins for over 30 daycare providers across Merced, with the goal of reaching 50 by the end of the year.
The mission is food for everyone, said volunteer Nancy Dear. The organization also distributes their rescued goods to other food pantries and charities around the county.
“There’s so many people out there that need items and we’re trying to provide as much as we can so that not everybody will go hungry,” Dear said.
Food insecurity in California, Merced
The Map the Meal Gap 2026 report from the national hunger-relief association Feeding America found that food insecurity rates in California are most prevalent in Imperial, Merced, Colusa, Tulare, Fresno, Kern and Kings counties.
Ranking second in the state, about 22% of Merced County households, and nearly a third of children, are food insecure, the data estimates. That translates to about 63,000 people in Merced County having struggled to get enough food at some point in 2024.
And with inflation and the cost of living rising across the state, volunteer Heidi Lenkford says it doesn’t matter what tax bracket a person is in.
“Every class right now is struggling. I don’t care if you make $100,000 a year or live off food stamps. There’s going to be a point in time in the month where you’re going to be hungry,” Lenkford said.
‘The food is there, the need is there’
Nearly 40% – or 133 billion pounds – of the national food supply gets thrown out each year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Food Para Todos said they receive around 60,000 pounds of unsold food from grocery stores each month.
“That’s food that would have been rotting in a landfill,” program manager Terika Degraw said.
Additionally, Degraw estimates they diverted half a million pounds of gas emissions last year, like methane and carbon dioxide from the air.
Despite the growing number of grocery stores in the area, it’s still difficult for rural residents to get to them.
“Being in Merced County and in a food desert, we are able to turn that into a dual-purpose action,” DeGraw said. “I think that the food is there, the need is there. Let’s build that bridge to connect that.”
The donation bins distributed by Food Para Todos are a low-cost solution for the amount of food waste and disparity in the area. For a $20 monthly donation to the organization, recipients from across the county get tens of pounds of produce delivered to their doorstep weekly.
One of the at-home daycare leaders, Maria Pulido said the bins are a big help in feeding her students meals and snacks – as well as providing some support for their families.
“With all the extra food, I tell them, ‘there [it is], grab whatever you need,” Pulido said.
This story was written and produced by the Climate Solutions Studio, a project of the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative and its partner newsrooms.