Local nonprofit food distribution organizations have to work hard to find donations to share with their clients. This week, they were able to pick them up in person at First Baptist Church in Vacaville.

The local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Vacaville received a truckload of supplies, including rice, pasta, pinto beans, powdered milk and other non-perishable items, from the church’s national headquarters to distribute to service providers in Solano County. Danny Wells of the LDS Church said local Mormon missionaries came to the event to load the supplies into trucks for more than 15 nonprofit organizations throughout the region.

Wells said the LDS Church has 50-foot trailers loaded with about 83,000 meals each, stockpiled across the U.S. as part of its relief efforts following wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods and other disasters. They also retain matching trucks with camping supplies to set up tent cities in disaster areas immediately.

“They are often one of the first responders to come in and help people who have lost their homes for some reason,” Wells said.

The supplies are produced by the LDS Church at its headquarters, he said, and the church tries to rotate them once a year to keep them fresh. The truck the church received Thursday was full of those unused supplies. Often, Wells said, the supplies would be donated to one large food bank, but this event helps keep the supplies going.

“I always wanted and had in my heart the idea of ​​smaller organizations that do a lot of good work,” he said. “So we have eighteen organizations that we distribute to.”

The Salvation Army is a major recipient of their distribution services in Vallejo and Fairfield, Wells said, as are many religious and secular groups in Vacaville. The constellation of support that has been created in Solano for those in need is a great help, he said, building synergy among organizations with common goals. Bringing all of these groups together, regardless of political or religious differences, is a huge help to the entire community, Wells said.

“There are so many people who do great work in the community who sometimes don’t get heard,” he said. “The big organizations get a lot of exposure.”

Needs in that area have roughly doubled from last year, Wells said, which he and other advocates attribute to economic pressures, particularly rising costs of living. The price of goods and the cost of fuel have skyrocketed in the past two years, he said, and those factors both fuel the need and make food distribution more expensive.

“We’ve seen the costs go up significantly,” he said. “I look at our costs of what we’re passing on, which used to be about $35,000 a truckload, and now it’s $50,000 to $55,000 a truckload, and that’s a little over two years.”

Wells said his church has begun working more closely with organizations that help people transition from living on the streets to a more independent lifestyle. He said that despite the increase in need, he feels local organizations have largely been successful in meeting their needs.

“The amount of things that are coming together is a real blessing,” he said. “So we feel like there’s a bit of a heavenly influence there.”

Warner Lunt, a missionary in Tallahassee, Florida, said he and other missionaries are taking time off work to help distribute food to trucks. Lunt, who said he has been in the area for about a year, said the work has been hard but rewarding, and it has given the missionaries a chance to show they are here to serve their community in addition to preaching.

“Some are a little heavy,” he said of the boxes. “The powdered milk is a little heavy, but it’s OK.”

Don Krch, treasurer of St. Mary’s Catholic Church and a volunteer at St. Mary’s Food Locker, came to pick up a load of food. Krch said the locker has been open since 1982, and last month they served 401 families, the most in their history.

During COVID, he said, attendance at the pantry has declined due to low food costs and stimulus checks from the federal government. He also attributed the increase in demand to the end of that funding and inflation. But partnering with other groups and connecting those in need with different services has helped meet the need.

“Nobody should be hungry in Vacaville,” Krch said. “And every time someone new comes in, we give them a flyer that says we’re not the only source in town. So you can only come to us once a month, but that doesn’t mean you can’t go to other places and pick up food. So if you’re hungry, anyone who’s hungry in Vacaville is looking in the wrong place.”