2021 FIND Food Bank Telethon raises nearly $400,000
Thanks to generous donations from around the community, nearly $400,000 were raised during the 11th annual FIND Food Bank Telethon Friday night. After all donations were tallied, the total was determined to be $356,892.
You can still donate to FIND online at https://www.findfoodbank.org/
In a normal year, FIND Food Bank serves 90,000 individuals each month, but that number has increased to an average of 150,000 people monthly during the pandemic.
FIND distributed about 12 million pounds of food in 2019, and from January 2020 – December 2020, FIND distributed over 24 million pounds of food, equivalent to 22 million meals.
Help the FIND Food Bank provide another 22 million meals to the Desert Region through 2021.
There were some major announcements made throughout the telethon.
The Houston Family Foundation donated 6.85 parcels of land to help the FIND Food Bank expand their operations. The land donation was an around $2 million donation. The FIND board of directions will be working on a survey to best understand the best use this land.
FIND President & CEO Debbie Espinosa announced that FIND is opening a branch in Yucca Valley in partnership with the Morongo Basin Healthcare District. This will help feed those in the High Desert.
A special thanks to some of FIND's key donors
- Desert Oasis Healthcare, $15,000
- Houston Family Foundation $50,000
- Western Winds Foundation, $35,000
- Ralphs Foundation, $40,000
- City of La Quinta, $100,000 during 2020
- City of Indio, $30,000
- Palm Springs Life, Paulina Larson, $10,000
- Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, $10,000
Editor's note: An earlier version of this article reported the total as more than $400,000, based on initial estimates in the hours after the Telethon ended. After the full auditing was completed by FIND Food Bank, the total was updated for accuracy.
