Lollipop Lane

As you approach Lollipop Lane in Vacaville every December, the first thing you notice is the sound of holiday music blaring from outdoor speakers, and the blur of lights as you turn onto the street (known January through November as Shady Glen Avenue). Every house is decorated in the lollipop theme, Food Bank donation barrels are placed in front of many of the homes, and there, in front of the McKimmy home is Santa, listening to children’s wishes and letting out a right jolly laugh every now and then.


For the past eight years, Don and Yukiko McKimmy have encouraged visitors to Lollipop Lane to donate food and money to the Food Bank. With help from neighbors and numerous others, Don has made Lollipop Lane and Candy Cane Lane (one street over) a must-see destination each December. Appearing twice during the month are the Fellowship of the Ringers, a local bell ringing group that have volunteered their time for the past six years and perform their repertoire of holiday music for the hundreds of visitors who come by. This year, Lollypop Lane collected over 707 pounds of food!

Trick or Treating for Cans

California High School's Interact Club annually runs a "Trick or Treating for Cans" food drive and donates the food to the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano. This year, the food drive was completed with the help of three clubs from Cal High: Interact, Key Club, and the National Honor Society. A goal of this food drive was also to cover an even larger area than the previous years in order to obtain more food.

The food drive started out with the bag assembly. With the help of the Food Bank, Cal High was given around 5,000 plain, brown paper bags. The volunteers of the clubs grabbed a couple of staplers and began stapling flyers onto the paper bags. The flyer announced the food drive and what foods were needed. Next week, all the bags were handed around San Ramon and the households were given one week to fill up the bag. After that week was up, the clubs drove around San Ramon, picking up the bags of food. Once all this was done, the Food Bank drove the truck to Cal High and picked up all the food.



The total amount of food collected was 5,216 pounds! Christina, representing Cal High, was recognized on CBS5 (photo above), for the work that she and the three clubs did to help our neighbors in need!

Whole Foods Market "5% Day"

A very successful 5% Day on December 8th at Whole Foods Market for the Bay Area Food Banks!Thank you to Whole Foods, CBS5 and every one who went shopping at Whole Foods Market on that day!

GEMM Award Raffle Check Delivered to the Food Bank

2010 Greater East Bay GEMM (Greater Excellence in Management and Maintenance) Awards Raffle was donated to two East Bay charities: FESCO (Family Emergency Shelter Coalition) and the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano. Below is the photo of the check delivery to the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano.
pictured left to right:
Joan Bergum, California Apartment Association (CAA) Contra Costa Napa Solano Advisory Board Member
Larry Sly, Executive Director, Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano
Barbara Conde, Regional Portfolio Manager Broadway Management and 2009 Greater East Bay GEMM Award Winner (category) Regional/Portfolio Manager of the Year.
Karen Quennell, Business Development Manager Northern California Division of JWilliams Staffing and 2010 Greater East Bay GEMM Awards Committee Chair

Live Oak Elementary collects 1,869 pounds of food!

The students at Live Oak Elementary in San Ramon hosted a food drive for the Food Bank and the students also competed in a poster contest to help promote the drive!


Ms. Wright’s winning class-257 items total!

Finding room for more food...

Carting things to the loading area...

Michael Yao (below) & Emily Hay (above): Winners of the Live Oak Poster Contest

Thank you to all the Live Oak students for supporting the Food Bank and their neighbors in need!

If you love our work then tell the world!

You have an exciting opportunity to help the Food Bank make even more of a difference for the community. GreatNonprofits – a site like Yelp – is conducting a contest to find the top-rated nonprofits working to end homelessness or hunger. It’s easy and only takes 3 minutes!

Local Montessori helps the Food Bank

The "Myrtle Farm Parent Club" at Myrtle Farm Montessori in Concord planned a food drive from November 1st-20th. In the school newsletter they talked about the Food Bank and listed our top priority needed items. The five kids in the photos are classmates who were able to come to the Food Bank on November 20th and delivered the food, which weighed in at 184 pounds!


They were so proud and we are so grateful!

The food they donated will provide about 147 meals to people in our community. Great work Myrtle Farm Montessori!

Interested in hosting your own Food Drive? Read the Food Bank's Food Drive Kit (PDF: 42K) for everything you need to know to host one.