Helping those who are isolated and unable to help themselves is the goal of those delivering food for FIND Food Bank through their homebound program. 

Steve Goodfriend is one of the volunteers delivering food right to people’s doorstep. “I come in here once a week and pick up food, and I bring that food in my car to people in their homes in Thermal and the Salton Sea, and those people are homebound and some of them get that CSFP senior assistance food,” Goodfriend said.

When he started volunteering, he had no idea just how many people struggle with food insecurity. 

 “So I live in Palm Desert, I live in a nice house, I just have to worry about what kind of food I’m going to cook for one person for one particular day, but not if I’m going to have any or not,” Goodfriend said.

“Our first month we served about a hundred and sixty and now here we are serving about forty-five hundred seniors a month,” said Priscilla Salcedo, Associate Director of Community Impact. 

 FIND Food Bank delivers boxes of fresh produce, proteins, and other sustainable food items every week.

“We do the best that we can to serve our local community, our senior population, and we thank everyone who is involved with our program, and we also invite others who are interested in volunteering to be a homebound delivery driver,” she added.

Goodfriend says he is grateful to deliver food for others in need and at times, feeling emotional for the impact the program has on the most vulnerable. 

“I cried all the way home on the first day, I couldn’t believe it. These people live 20 miles from me, they can’t put enough food on the table to eat, something’s wrong, so I view FIND Food Bank as part of the solution,” Goodfriend said.

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