{"id":17376,"date":"2025-11-25T14:04:44","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T22:04:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/findfoodbank.org\/?p=17376"},"modified":"2025-12-29T14:49:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T22:49:17","slug":"hunger-is-on-the-rise-in-the-coachella-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/findfoodbank.org\/ru\/hunger-is-on-the-rise-in-the-coachella-valley\/","title":{"rendered":"Hunger Is on the Rise in the Coachella Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u0415\u0434\u0430 \u0441\u0435\u0439\u0447\u0430\u0441<\/a> has been providing supplemental food assistance to families in the Desert Hot Springs area since 1959. This November, more than 800 men, women, and children have been lining up each week at the 66-year-old food pantry, an all-time-record that\u2019s also up nearly 70 percent from last year at this time, according to Tom Tragesser, Food Now\u2019s vice president and director of operations.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThe numbers of people who are suffering from food insecurity are growing,\u201d Tragesser says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A similar situation was unfolding at the east end of the valley, where the Mecca-based \u0426\u0435\u043d\u0442\u0440 \u0413\u0430\u043b\u0438\u043b\u0435\u0438<\/a> has been distributing 500 food boxes a week, double its weekly count from last year, according to Claudia Castorena, who co-founded the food bank with Gloria Gomez in 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Food insecurity, defined as the inability to purchase enough food to adequately meet one\u2019s basic needs, is increasing across the Coachella Valley along with the incidence of hunger, according to Debbie Espinosa, president and CEO of FIND Regional Food Bank<\/a> in Indio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Espinosa is keenly aware of food insecurity across the valley because FIND serves as the primary food supplier to over 120 food pantries and homeless shelters from Desert Hot Springs to North Shore. FIND is the primary supplier of free food for the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission, Martha\u2019s Village & Kitchen, the Galilee Center, and well-known food pantries at The Center in Palm Springs, College of the Desert, St. Margaret\u2019s Episcopal Church in Palm Desert, and Catholic Charities in the East Valley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From its recently expanded warehouse facilities in Indio, FIND has distributed more than 20 million pounds of food in the past year. \u201cThis translates to approximately 16.5 million meals,\u201d Espinosa says, noting that FIND also deployed 22 mobile pantries to \u201cfood deserts\u201d in the region, which do not have a local food pantry, or areas with an intensive amount of food-insecure people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FIND documented 168,241 client interactions valleywide in October, up 34.6 percent from a year earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Coachella and Morongo valleys alone, more than 50,000 people rely on the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)<\/a>, called CalFresh<\/a> in California, Espinosa says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The numbers of individuals and families struggling to meet their basic food needs intensified across the Coachella Valley during the 43-day government shutdown, from Oct. 1 to Nov. 12, when the federal government suspended funding for SNAP\/CalFresh. The modern iteration of America\u2019s historic food stamp program provides qualifying recipients with EBT cards, which they can use to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables, meats, and poultry, as well as seeds and plants for growing their own food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Food insecurity was on the rise across the Coachella Valley even before the government shutdown, however, and it\u2019s likely to continue into next year and beyond as growing numbers of individuals and families struggle to make ends meet with paychecks that fail to keep up with the escalating costs of housing, insurance, utilities, groceries, and inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the most recent data from HARC Inc.<\/a>, the Coachella Valley\u2019s local data source for nonprofits, 29 percent of Coachella Valley adults have spent less money on food because they needed to prioritize other basic needs, such as healthcare, housing, transportation, or utilities. \u201cThis equates to more than 98,500 people cutting back on food purchases due to financial strain,\u201d says HARC CEO Jenna LeComte-Hinely, Ph.D. \u201cThe pinch is even more difficult for families with children \u2014 39 percent of households with children had to spend less money on food in order to afford these basic expenses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But although SNAP\/CalFresh is extremely helpful, the program is designed to deliver only supplemental food assistance and does not provide recipients with enough support to cover the cost of all their food needs. Espinosa says many CalFresh recipients wind up going to food banks to gather the additional food they need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many CalFresh recipients exhausted their food benefits weeks before the government shutdown, Espinosa says, and had to rely on local food pantries. \u201cWe\u2019re not only seeing more people, but existing clients who are coming more often,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even as food insecurity has increased, the Trump administration has made significant cutbacks in federal funds for food banks as well as SNAP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In spring, the Trump administration slashed $500 million in funding for the USDA\u2019s Emergency Food Assistance Program<\/a>, which purchases and delivers U.S.-produced meat, dairy products, eggs, and fresh produce to food banks across the country, including FIND Regional Food Bank in Indio. The $500 million cutback amounts to about a quarter of the funding that the USDA program received in 2024. \u201cThis cutback alone affects every food pantry and homeless shelter in the Coachella Valley because the majority of them depend on FIND for the majority of their food supply,\u201d Espinosa says. \u201cWe all work together to address food insecurity with FIND serving as the regional hub for receiving donated and government food from across the country into our area, then deploying this food out to local food banks, food pantries, and homeless shelters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A ProPublica report<\/a> in October noted that the cutbacks resulted in at least 94 million pounds of food lost across the country. The Trump administration\u2019s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law on July 4, reduces SNAP funding by 20 percent, or $186 billion, over the next decade, while imposing additional work requirements and other restrictions on the people who can receive SNAP benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CalFresh delivered more than $12.5 billion in food assistance to an average of 5.5 million food insecure Californians in 3.3 million households in the 2024\u201325 fiscal year, according to a report<\/a> from the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst\u2019s Office. As the federal government continues to scale back its support, FIND and other regional food banks must look to the state as well as private donors to make up for shortfalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, homeless shelters, churches, and nonprofit organizations are stepping up their efforts to address the burgeoning food insecurity in the Coachella Valley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, Coachella Valley Rescue Mission in Indio<\/a> is increasingly providing meals for food-insecure families in addition to homeless people who live at the shelter, according to Scott Wolf, the Rescue Mission\u2019s development director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot only are we serving well over 300,000 meals a year to the residents who stay with us in our programs and the people who stay in our emergency shelter,\u201d Wolf says. \u201cWe also hand out about 125 to 150 food boxes to food-insecure families in our community each week.\u201d He adds that the demand for food boxes has increased significantly in recent months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martha\u2019s Village & Kitchen in Indio<\/a> is providing food pantry services that distribute about 3,000 meals each month for individuals and families, says Rosa E. Verduzco-Ruiz, chief operating officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur pantry serves individuals and families who have a home and access to a kitchen,\u201d Verduzco-Ruiz says. \u201cClients may access the pantry up to three times per month, and each visit provides three meals for three days for every household member listed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martha\u2019s Village also operates a hot meal program. \u201cOn average, this program services around 8,000 hot meals per month,\u201d Verduzco-Ruiz says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino<\/a> has partnered with Catholic Charities of San Bernardino & Riverside Counties<\/a> \u0438 Knights of Columbus<\/a> to gather and deliver food donations for Coachella Valley residents suffering from food insecurity, says Jesse Gonzalez, Catholic Charities\u2019 chief operating officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each box of food, called Matthew\u2019s Harvest, contains four meals for a family of four, Gonzalez says, noting that enough food for 5,760 meals was delivered to four parish locations across the Coachella Valley in November: St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church<\/a> in Desert Hot Springs, St. Theresa of the Child Jesus<\/a> in Palm Springs, St. Louis Catholic Church<\/a> in Cathedral City, and Mission San Juan Diego<\/a> in North Shore. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Food-insecure families in Desert Hot Springs will also be able to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner, Tragesser says, citing donations of 500 turkeys from the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, 300 turkeys from the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, and shelf-stable trimmings from Xavier Preparatory High School in Palm Desert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Numerous groups from across the Coachella Valley received turkeys from the Morongo tribe, including the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission, St. Elizabeth\u2019s Food Pantry, and First Community Baptist Church in Desert Hot Springs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Morongo tribe also delivered 200 turkeys to the Palm Springs Unified School District to help students and their families enjoy a meaningful holiday meal together. According to a news release, the Morongo tribe gave away 15,000 turkeys to nonprofit groups, churches, and charities in the Coachella Valley and across Southern California as part of its 39th annual Thanksgiving outreach program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe roots of Morongo\u2019s Thanksgiving outreach program stretch back decades to a time when our tribe sought to help others even as we struggled in face of adversity,\u201d Morongo Tribal Chairman Charles Martin says in a statement. \u201cThis year, we continue to honor our Tribe\u2019s legacy of giving to others by providing tens of thousands of holiday meals to those who are struggling across the region.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rotary Clubs have also been doing their part to address the food crisis. The Palm Desert Rotary Club\u2019s Angels of Service program, which past club President Ricardo Loretta launched in 2020 during the pandemic, has also worked out special arrangements to purchase food at a discount from Albertsons, which it delivers every two weeks to several well-known food pantries, including Food Now, College of the Desert, California State University, San Bernardino\u2019s Palm Desert Campus, St. Margaret\u2019s Episcopal Church, and the Joslyn Center. These deliveries supplement what these pantries receive from FIND, and add a wider variety of food for clients, Espinosa says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Loretta, who has also served on the board of the directors of the Galilee Center since 2012, says the food insecurity crisis is widespread in the valley and is affecting everyone from college students to senior citizens. For many local college students, he says, the only food they eat is what they can pick up from campus food pantries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even Indian Wells, which has long been one of the most affluent cities in the valley, has somewhere from 150 to 200 food-insecure residents, Loretta says, citing food pantry registrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Palm Desert Rotary Club\u2019s Angels of Service has had to broaden its purchases to include pet food, which it donates to food banks because some seniors will sacrifice their own food to feed their pets, Loretta says: \u201cThey go without eating and feed their pets because they don\u2019t have the money to buy both types of food.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Are So Many People Hungry in the Coachella Valley?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Forty-two million people \u2014 or one in eight Americans \u2014 receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, including more than 50,000 in the Coachella and Morongo valleys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than one in five Coachella Valley adults worry whether their food will run out before they have money to buy more, according to Jenna LeComte-Hinely, Ph.D., CEO of HARC Inc., the Coachella Valley\u2019s local data source for nonprofits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Food insecurity is even worse for families with children; 46 percent of Coachella Valley children live in households with food insecurity concern, says LeComte-Hinely, citing a 2022 HARC survey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This begs the question: Why are so many people suffering from food insecurity in the Coachella Valley and across the country?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reasons include wages that haven\u2019t kept pace with inflation, and the rising cost of housing, utilities, and insurance, according to experts in food insecurity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor the majority of Americans, inflation has outpaced wage growth over the past four decades, thereby reducing a household\u2019s overall purchasing power, meaning they can\u2019t afford the same basket of goods they used to be able to afford decades ago,\u201d says Kurt Schwabe, Ph.D., a professor of environmental economics and policy at the University of California, Riverside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schwabe, who also serves as chairman of Feeding America of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, which is part of the Feeding America national food bank network, says many Americans work in jobs with low pay or limited or unstable hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This scenario is particularly common in the Coachella Valley, where many people work in seasonal, relatively low-paying jobs in tourism and agriculture that do not include health insurance or paid sick leave. \u201cThis means if they get sick or pregnant, or if they have to take care of someone who becomes sick or pregnant, they can lose their job or have to pay high prices to get these services,\u201d Schwabe says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rising cost of housing is also causing growing numbers of people in the Coachella Valley to experience food insecurity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFood banks are one of the best defense mechanisms against homelessness,\u201d says Debbie Espinosa, president and  CEO of FIND Regional Food Bank in Indio. \u201cPeople will go without food to pay the rent and utilities because they don\u2019t want to be homeless. Providing them food helps them continue to pay for their housing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To understand the magnitude of food insecurity in the Coachella Valley, consider the Palm Springs Unified School District. \u201cNinety-five percent of our students are socioeconomically disadvantaged and would qualify for free or reduced meals,\u201d says Joan L. Boiko, the district\u2019s coordinator of communications and community outreach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a Community Eligible Provision (CEP) district, PSUSD provides free breakfast, lunch, and dinner for all students. \u201cWe qualified (and continue to qualify) for this provision for the last several years,\u201d Boiko says, adding that students who want dinner at school can receive it about 30 minutes before the end of the school day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Approximately 80 percent of students in the Desert Sands Unified School District have critical needs and qualify for free or reduced price meals. \u201cAll students in our district eat for free, regardless of family income, ensuring that no child goes hungry,\u201d Desert Sands says in a written statement. \u201cWhile we haven\u2019t seen indications of the food crisis getting worse, our meal participation has remained steady and stable over the last month, reinforcing our essential role in addressing community food security through education.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Coachella Valley\u2019s latest food insecurity statistics will be included in HARC\u2019s 2025 Community Health Survey, to be released in late February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How You Can Help<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Food banks and pantries can use monetary contributions as well as donations of nonperishable foods, and many also need volunteers to help pack and deliver food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vania Otiura, a junior at Palm Desert High School, has been volunteering as a Youth Advisory Commission Ambassador for FIND Regional Food Bank in Indio for the past three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe give FIND ideas on how we can apply the fight against hunger at the youth level,\u201d says Otiura, who serves FIND with ambassadors from other valley high schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The students have been battling stigma associated with food insecurity. Most people, including children, are embarrassed to talk about food insecurity. \u201cI would say at least 60 percent of our students are in line every day for a school-provided breakfast or lunch,\u201d Otiura says. \u201cThat tells us these meals are basic resources that our student campus needs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Otiura and her fellow ambassadors came up with the idea last year of including discussions and information about food insecurity on Palm Desert High School\u2019s weekly Aztec Newscast, which is shared with students online through YouTube.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the main ideas we share is that the resource of FIND Regional Food Bank is out there for everyone,\u201d Otiura says, adding that it\u2019s helpful to educate students about the importance of budgeting and knowing how to find food pantry resources when they go to college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Debbie Espinosa, FIND\u2019s president and CEO, says she developed the youth ambassador program to educate students about the realities of systemic hunger and give them opportunities to develop their skills as community leaders. Ambassadors are selected for their willingness to go above and beyond to speak out and serve their community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following organizations offer opportunities to volunteer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n