A retired RV has found a new lease on life — delivering food to communities where it’s just out of reach. The RV had been utilized by Second Harvest for several years as a means for outreach that eventually became obsolete due to changing technology. As a result, the RV was decommissioned from Food Bank use and transferred to our partner, West Valley Community Services. In their hands the RV is now employed as a mobile pantry!
“A lot of our clients weren’t able to get to us during our pantry hours, so we decided to bring the pantry to them,” said Malia O’Brien, who is the mobile pantry case manager. Second Harvest provides most of the food distributed by the mobile pantry, which includes fresh produce, meat, dairy and canned foods. “Second Harvest makes it easy for us to order what we need,” she added.
Easy access to food means our partner agency can focus on providing other services like helping people find housing, emergency financial assistance, and other programs that help people become more financially stable. “A lot of our clients tell me that without our services, they wouldn’t have food to eat,” Malia said. She travels with the mobile pantry to help connect clients, particularly those who are homeless, to other services they might need. “The high cost of housing is driving many of our clients out of their homes, and we’re trying to prevent that,” she said.