At Blue Water Credit, we often educated our clients and friends about financial matters, from credit score and home buying to debt and savings. But today, instead of breaking down why you should put more money in the bank, we’re going to highlight another very important bank deposit that’s critically needed by millions of Americans: a deposit in your local food bank.

It’s a sad reality that that many people are hungry or food insecure (where they don’t know where their next meal is coming from and available nutrition is erratic), despite all of the United State’s wealth. In fact, the most recent 2015 report by the Economic Research Service at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) indicates that 48 million people in the United States are now living in food insecure households. Even worse, children disproportionally suffer from food insecurity, with 15 million U.S. kids not getting enough food on a daily basis.

But the good news is that there are wonderful organizations that are mobilized to help. Blue Water Credit has been honored and privileged to volunteer at the Placer Food Bank every month, so we’d like to shine a light on the great work they’re doing to help people in the region who are facing food insecurity.

Here are 15 facts about the Placer Food Bank:

1. With a simple mission to feed the hungry, educate the community, and advocate for hunger relief, the Placer Food Bank distribute more than 6 million pounds of food each year to hunger-relief organizations in the region.

2. It is no small task, as there are about 90,000 people throughout Placer, El Dorado, and Nevada counties that are experiencing hunger or food insecurity, the majority of them families and children.

3. They began in 1970 as the Community Resource Council, providing services to low-income and needy individuals and families in Roseville and the surrounding area. In 1985, they shifted their focus to a Food Bank, and in 2008 the Community Resources Council officially was renamed as the Placer Food Bank.

4. The Placer Food Bank is the only local hunger relief organization in the counties it serves, and one of only 210 food banks in the U.S. The Placer Food Bank is also a certified member of Feeding America, the country’s biggest domestic hunger relief charity, and a member of the California Association of Food Banks.

5. The Placer Food Bank is blessed with a great leadership team including Executive Director, Dave Martinez, Director of Operations, Lance Watson, and Director of Finance and Administration, Debbie Anderson. Their Board of Directors includes successful community leaders from a variety of industries like banking, communications, and agriculture.

6. When the region suffered a crippling economic downturn in 2009, the Placer Food Bank saw the need for food distribution and community services triple!

7. Who needs help? They are our neighbors, friends, family, and valuable members of our community. In fact, many of the people who are food insecure in the region are the working poor, who are employed but just can’t make ends meet. Approximately one out of four children in the region live in poverty, and many seniors struggle to pay for basic needs every month. In fact, national statistics show that low-income people spend an average of 30% of their budget on food, compared to 7% for the average American.

8. Where does the Food Bank get the food they distribute to the community? Aside from food drives and generous donations from individuals, the majority of the Placer Food Bank’s food come from donations from large hunger relief agencies like Feeding America, Farm to Families and the USDA Food Program, as well as regional retailers like Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club and Save Mart, and a program that allows them to purchase surplus food for pennies on the dollar.

9. The Placer Food Bank is part of a network of more than 60 regional hunger-relief organizations and charities, as well as 83 partner organizations.

10. These days, it’s important to know that your hard-earned donation dollars are helping the people that need it most. When you donate to the Placer Food Bank, a very respectable 93% of every dollar goes directly to fund programs and services to feed the hungry!

11. The Placer Food Bank does the lions hare of their hunger relief and community advocacy work through their five platform programs, BackPack Program, CalFresh Outreach, Placer Community Gardens, Healthy Plates, Healthy Families, and the USDA Emergency Food Assistance Program (EFAP).

12. There are plenty of ways to give to the Placer Food Bank. If you can’t donate funds, you can volunteer at the Food Bank center, hold a food drive, donate non-perishable and canned goods, donate a vehicle, set up a workplace giving campaign, or even designating the Placer Food Bank as the beneficiary of your life insurance policy.

13. In fact, you can even help feed needy people in the region just by shopping on Amazon.com! By shopping online at AmazonSmile.com, you ensure a portion of every purchase is donated to the Placer Food Bank.

14. If you’d like to follow the Placer Food Bank’s events, updates, and news, you can connect with them on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/placerfoodbank or Twitter. https://twitter.com/placerfoodbank

15. To get in touch with the Placer Food Bank or get involved, you can visit them at their headquarters at 8284 Industrial Avenue in Roseville, call 916-783-0481, go to www.PlacerFoodBank.org, or email info@PlacerFoodBank.org.

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Contact us if you’d like to hear more, make a donation, or come volunteer with the Blue Water staff at the Placer Food Bank!