At this year’s California Food Bank conference, keynote speaker Dr. Kevin Ahmaad Jenkins drove home a powerful point. When your head is down and the work is hard, it can be easy to lose sight of the vision ahead. For those of us in hunger relief, the past year has tested that vision. National and state policy signals have been unsettling. In September 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture cancelled its annual Household Food Security Report — a key measure used by policymakers and hunger relief agencies alike to understand and respond to food insecurity across the country. And following the passage of H.R. 1, the California Budget and Policy Center estimates that more than 3 million California households are at risk of losing some or all of their food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known locally as CalFresh. 

The ground, it has felt, is shifting beneath our feet. 

But here in our region, something else is happening. Something worth pausing to acknowledge. 

Every month, our team at Sierra Community House rescues an average of 22,000 pounds of food from local grocery stores and bakeries — food that would otherwise go to waste. That’s roughly $70,000 worth of nutrition going directly to the members of our community who need it most. In November 2025 when SNAP benefits froze due to the government shutdown, we received more volunteer applications in a single month than we had received in all of 2024 combined. When the policy environment grew darker, our community leaned in. 

That response matters all the more given the pressures our neighbors already face. Across the North Lake Tahoe and Truckee region, the high cost of living places extraordinary strain on household budgets. Rent, utilities, food and fuel costs in the region are substantially higher than national averages. The 2025 Tahoe – Truckee Housing Needs Assessment Update found that renters spending more than 30% of their gross income on housing rose from 39% in 2017 to 52% in 2021, and remained at 50% in 2023. When half of all renters are cost-burdened, food insecurity isn’t a distant policy problem — it’s a kitchen-table reality. Rent eats first. The most recent Tahoe Forest Community Health Action Plan agrees: hunger in our region is a public health issue, not just a social services one. 

This June marks the end of our U.S Department of Agriculture Local Food Purchasing Assistance program, an 18-month partnership with the Tahoe Food Hub that delivered fresh, locally grown produce to our community members every week. Losing that funding is a real transition. But our organization has rallied — with the support of dedicated grantors and funders — to bridge much of that gap. Our Program Manager, Lauren Scott Fisher, has built a sourcing strategy that doesn’t just feed people; it supports local and regional farmers, reduces environmental impact, and keeps our food system rooted in this place we all call home. That kind of thinking is what turns a funding challenge into a more resilient program. 

So let’s lift our gaze.  

Let’s look toward a future where food security in our region has a viable, lasting solution. Where getting support to put healthy food on the table carries no shame. Where a resilient local food system — built by volunteers, sustained by community, and grounded in dignity — can withstand whatever challenges come next. 

That future is being built here, right now, by the people of this community. And you can be part of building it. A $250,000 funding gap remains as we navigate this transition, and we are asking our community to help us close it. Sierra Community House’s 238 Plate Club is a monthly giving program where $2.38 provides a meal to a neighbor in need — our goal is 300 members by the end of June. It is worth looking up at that future. And it starts at $2.38. Join us at http://www.sierracommunityhouse.org.