Today we are kicking off our annual Holiday Food Bank Fund Drive with a goal of $100,000, which is the same as last year. We already have $56,683 donated to this year’s drive by our generous kick off donors:

T.R. Eriksen Foundation, $40,000; Redwood Credit Union, $5,000; Robert & Suzanne Hardie, $3,000; Mabel Albertson Foundation Fund, $2,000; George & Ruth Bradford Foundation, $2,000; Savings Bank of Mendocino County, $1,783.00; Rick & Colleen Henderson, $1,000; Gaye Coffey, $500; McCarty’s Auto Body, $500; JT & Jacqueline Williams, $500; Patricia Guntly, $250; Steve & Cynthia John, $100; Jason & Brandi Page, $50.

We inaugurated the food bank drive in the winter of 1986 because we recognized the invaluable service the Food Bank delivered to this community every day and especially during the holiday season. Our community came through from the very beginning, allowing us to reach our goals year after year and keep the Food Bank going, its refrigerators on, its vans picking up donated food, and paying a tiny staff that even today is just two people.

With the help from all of you out there who donate each year, the Food Bank has been able to improve its services and its offerings and keep going with what for seniors, working families, veterans and the disabled is the only source of food at certain times of the month or even every week. The Food Bank has also been improving the nutritional content of the food it makes available.

We thank you in advance for your donations. No donation is too small. To show our appreciation, we will, as we do each year, print each donor’s name in the newspaper to let the community know how generous their neighbors are.

To donate, send your check or money order to Ukiah Food Bank, c/o Ford Street at 139 Ford Street, Ukiah, 95482 or drop or mail your donation to the UDJ office at 415A Talmage Road, Ukiah, 95482.