Second Harvest of the Greater Valley

Our mission is to feed our community through our partnerships. SHGV began as Good Samaritan Community Services in 1976 by administering State Brown Bag and Title III-B programs for low income senior citizens in San Joaquin County. Good Samaritan began to collect more food then it needed and began providing supplemental groceries to other nonprofit charities with food operations. In May of 1995, the food bank joined a national coalition of food banks known as America’s Second Harvest, now known as Feeding America. Joining this national coalition provided the opportunity to receive donations on a large corporate level and allowed for growth and expansion. In 1996 the food bank completed its separation from Good Samaritan and established its own non-profit entity as the San Joaquin Food Bank. In 2001 San Joaquin Food Bank merged with the Modesto-Riverbank-Stanislaus County Food Bank to form Second Harvest Food Bank of San Joaquin and Stanislaus Counties (SHFB). The merging of these two entities allowed for a more effective and increased distribution of food to those in need. Several years later, through Feeding America governance, SHFB was designated as the regulatory and compliance food bank to represent an 8 county territory that includes San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Amador, Alpine, Calaveras, Mariposa and Tuolumne. The Feeding America designated territory SHFB provides compliance is served in cooperation with four other independent food banks affiliated with the Feeding America Network. These food banks include Merced County Food Bank, ATCAA Food Bank, The Resource Connection Food Bank, and Amador Interfaith Food Bank. With representation of this 8 county region in January of 2021, SHFB officially became Second Harvest of the Greater Valley (SHGV). Today SHGV continues on its mission of fighting hunger with these partner food banks by distributing over 25 million pounds of food to over 500,000 individuals through sustaining and growing its vital programs.

Second Harvest of the Greater Valley Food Bank is committed to fighting hunger by providing and distributing food to those in need and feeding hope by recognizing the diversity of those we serve and treating each individual with dignity and respect.