One federal program that, since last fall, has been distributing food across the country in several phases is not distributing in San Diego County right now, however.
The USDA Farmers to Families Food Box Program was put together to help struggling farmers and families during the pandemic, and San Diego County food banks were getting boxes until recently.
“We were getting about five truckloads a week, which was great, Flores said. It really helped augment what we were doing.
After months of distribution, though, a problem arose. NBC 7 learned that different vendors across the country bid to distribute the food boxes in each phase of the program. Under the federal contracts, the vendors are supposed to deliver food as equitably as possible to the states.