Food Now’s mission is to improve the quality of life for residents in western Coachella Valley (now including Palm Springs and Cathedral City) by providing food assistance, community outreach and support services which strengthen families and build healthy communities.
Low-income families face many hurdles just obtain the basic resources needed to get by, much less thrive. A healthy diet is not a luxury; it is necessity. For more than 30 years Food Now has made a significant impact in the lives of thousands of men, women, and children by providing access to food assistance and family support services.
Food Now provides the following services free to our community.
Food Assistance: A healthy diet is a critical component to achieve and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Food Now provides a safe and secure source of healthy food. Food Now provides food assistance for approximately 350 households every week. During Covid, the number surged over to 750 households receiving assistance every week.
Children’s Backpack Weekend Meal Program: is a cooperative effort with the Palm Springs Unified School District and provides selected chronically hungry children with a backpack filled with additional nutritional support on weekends, meals they would normally receive at school.
Homeless Needs Program: Food Now provides up to 40 homeless clients with daily distributions of special ready to eat food packages which require no heating or refrigeration. Personal hygiene items are distributed.
Companion Pet Food Distribution: Food Now is a county Pet Friendly Zone participant and provides weekly distributions of pet food (when available).
Food Now volunteers donate approximately 16,000 hours of their time per year!
When a household becomes food secure, there is an economic and social benefit. Money saved on a food expense can be reallocated for education, clothing, supplies, and so much more. Clients become housing secure by being able to make a rent or mortgage payment. Jobs are more secure because money is available for transportation expenses. The health and well-being of the community is improved with money available for medical care and prescriptions.
For more information on how you can help, please visit www.FoodNowDHS.org.
