Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County

In collaboration with our partners, we provide dignified, equitable, and consistent access to nutritious food, creating a foundation for community health.

We envision an Orange County with food and nutritional security for all.

In 1983 Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County (SHFBOC) began providing food for the hungry and food-insecure under the leadership of Daniel J. Harney and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. In 2007, Second Harvest moved from its location in an old fruit packing warehouse in the city of Orange to a new facility in Irvine on the former El Toro Marine Base, now Irvine’s Great Park, more than doubling its capacity to meet the needs of Orange County's hungry. In 2012, Second Harvest Food Bank became an independent 501c3 corporation. Since its founding 40 years ago, Second Harvest has distributed more than 500 million pounds of donated, surplus, rescued, and purchased food to provide for those in need. We solicit donations of funds, food from growers and producers, rescued food, and in-kind equipment and services to efficiently distribute food for the hungry and food-insecure through non-profit partners, pantries, and direct service programs. In addition, we advocate for legislation and policies that will help us achieve our mission of providing consistent access to nutritious food to all who need it in Orange County. SHFBOC is honored to have received the coveted 4-star charity ranking from Charity Navigator, USA's largest independent charity evaluator. This ranking was awarded based on several accountability and transparency metrics focusing on governance, ethical practices, and openness with donors and stakeholders.

In Fiscal Year 24 (July 2023 – June 2024), Second Harvest served a monthly average of 442,154 people (duplicated) each month across Orange County – an increase of 12.6% over Fiscal Year 23 – and distributed 35,781,426 million pounds of food.

We reach those we serve through our food distribution programs held in conjunction with our 270+ Partner Network of community organizations. This includes K-12 schools, colleges and universities, community centers, senior centers, low-income housing, transitional housing, places of worship, food pantries and more.

Through this Partner Network we operate our flagship programs at no cost to those we serve:
•College Pantry – Permanent locations on 18 college and university campuses for students and their families
•Mobile Pantry – Monthly “pop-up” distributions at 42 locations
•Mobile School Pantry – Monthly farmer’s markets at 74 K-12 schools
•Senior Grocery – Distributions at 47 locations serving senior populations
•Permanent School Pantry – Permanent “mini markets” located on-site at seven high-need K-12 schools and family resource center
•Park-It Market – Two refrigerated trailers that bring food distributions to 15 communities each week who don’t have the staff and/or space for storing food for distributions
•Recurring Delivery –SHFB delivers food to 87 of our partners
•Grocery Rescue – Food donated by 280+ local grocery and retail stores is picked up by 70+ of our Partner Network organizations via 940+ weekly pickups

Our focus is not just on providing enough food but providing enough nutritious food. We do this to help reduce illness and support people with well-rounded diets as they play, go to school, work, act as caregivers, and contribute to their communities.
In FY24, Second Harvest achieved the following toward our mission to provide nutritious food and create a foundation for community health:
• Served an average 442,154 individuals (duplicated) monthly
o Coordinated with an average 263 community organization partners each month
o Food distributed at a monthly average of 338 sites
• Sourced and distributed 35,781,426 pounds of food, broken down into the following food types:
 39.8% fruits and vegetables
 19.7% protein
 12.1% grain
 11.5% dairy
• “Rescued” more than 14.5 million pounds of food from local grocery and other retail stores through our Grocery Rescue program
• Grew 2,059,840 pounds of produce through our Farm Programs
• Acquired 27,443,988 pounds of food through Donations and Government programs
• Purchased 6,277,598 pounds of food including:
 822,533 pounds of eggs
 1,856,855 pounds of milk
 605,057 pounds of produce
 1,459,462 pounds of protein

Second Harvest has been serving an ongoing, elevated number of people seeking food. The number of individuals we’re serving each month rivals the levels we saw at the beginning of COVID. In May 2024, we served 496,301 people, the highest number we’ve seen in almost 3 years and almost double our 249,000 monthly pre-pandemic average.

This increased need is a confluence of the end in April 2023 of pandemic-related Emergency Allotments to CalFresh food assistance benefits and ongoing elevated costs of living like gas, utilities, transportation, housing and food. When people struggle to make ends meet, healthy food is often cut to save money, replaced with fast food/processed food. Second Harvest is there to fill this food gap and provide fresh, nutritious foods so people don’t have to choose between paying for rent or groceries.

In Fiscal Year 25, (July 2024 – June 2025) Second harvest projects spending $6.4 million to purchase 13 million pounds of nutritious food. We strategically purchase food items to supplement the donated food we receive, which includes produce, eggs, protein, milk, grains, and shelf-stable items.

Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County distributes food to anyone needing food throughout Orange County. We provide food through a network of nearly 300 community partners and programs, including at places of worship, schools, senior centers, low-income senior housing, soup kitchens, shelters, transitional housing facilities, and other nonprofit organizations, among others.