California State Employees in the Sacramento area together with Sacramento Emergency Foodlink (Foodlink), began collecting food in early November 2009 and continued through January 2010 for the annual Food Drive. This year, despite state furloughs and salary cuts for many state employees, there was a record amount of participation among California State Departments and Agencies with over 200 offices partaking in the Food Drive.  As a result, over 770,000 pounds of food were collected which is an increase from last’s year total of 758,000.

“The Food Drive sponsored by California State Employees is one of our largest food drives of the year," says John Healey, President/CEO of Foodlink.  "Year after year, I am amazed by the generosity of California’s State Employees and the immense effort put forth to feed the hungry in the Sacramento area. The California State Employees yet again proved what an extremely generous group they are. We are incredibly thankful for their continued support in the fight against hunger. ”

The Food Drive is as important as ever as Foodlink, Sacramento County’s official Food Bank, has seen the demand for food assistance in the area rise at least 35% in the last year. Foodlink’s distribution partner, Feeding America, states that almost 1 in 6 Americans are now hungry with over 3.7 million Californians classified as food insecure.

The food collected during the Food Drive will be distributed by Foodlink to over 120 food closets and agencies throughout the Sacramento area. For more information about the 2009 Food Drive, please visit www.fooddrive.ca.gov.