Food Bank offers a lifeline
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More than just providing people with food, however, Sproull says the agency gives people a lifeline. “Being hungry is one thing. Being alone is another. The Food Bank gives them hope and let’s them know that we’re there for them. We provide hope to people. At Christmas time, we feed 1,000 people at the fairgrounds. They see community leaders there and realize, they aren’t alone and there are people who care about them.”
The Food Bank of El Dorado County was born out of a request by a father to his son.
Founded in 2000 by Mike Sproull, he said he started it after his father asked him to do something good for the community.
Sproull said after looking around, he found there was no food bank in El Dorado County, so he created one. Now after 12 years, he says it’s the biggest charity in the county, distributing on a yearly basis nearly 1.7 million pounds of food worth almost $3 million. On a monthly basis, it helps feed 8,000 to 12,000 people in the county.
Operating with a lean staff of only six people, the Food Bank manages to be effective because it can draw on the help of hundreds of volunteers. “El Dorado County is a very giving community,” said Sproull.
Sproull said their operating budget is only about $550,000. “We take dollar donations and leverage it with volunteers so people get a five-to one return on their donations. That’s why people donate. They get a lot of bang for their buck.
“We don’t have government grants. Donors provide us with 80 percent of our budget. That way we don’t have all our eggs in one basket. It’s truly a community agency.”
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