Second Harvest Food Bank expands its reach with hybrid truck - SJ Mercury News

Second Harvest Food Bank expands its reach with hybrid truck - SJ Mercury News

By Stephen Baxter

Willow Glen Resident
Posted: 01/25/2010 06:14:31 PM PST
Updated: 01/25/2010 06:14:34 PM PST

It's been said that there is no famine in the United States, but there is food insecurity. If a person has money for food now but doesn't know if he can eat later in the week, and a dollar buys 800 calories of junk food or 200 calories of vegetables — why wouldn't he reach for the Doritos? To try to alleviate some of that food insecurity, Second Harvest Food Bank delivers fresh vegetables to community centers and low-income neighborhoods in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.

For the last year and a half, the organization has used a tractor-trailer to deliver the produce, and in January Second Harvest added a hybrid truck dubbed the Produce Mobile that can hold up to 20,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables. It was purchased with a $207,000 donation from Symantec Corp. The new 32-foot vehicle can be refrigerated to as low as 30 degrees, and it has
doors on both sides for faster loading and unloading. Lynn Crocker, a spokeswoman for Second Harvest, said the second truck will widen the reach of their services. It will allow the food bank to open 14 more sites in the next fiscal year, and more than 21,000 people will now receive food each month.Crocker compared the new truck to a farmers market on wheels, and she said the hybrid engine was Symantec's idea. The money saved on fuel will be reinvested in to food programs.

"Our driver said it sips diesel, and there is about a 30 percent fuel savings," Crocker said of the new truck. he new Produce Mobile has made several deliveries so far, including trips to Tropicana Plaza in East San Jose and the Onetta Harris Community Center in Menlo Park.

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