BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — The Community Action Partnership of Kern County (CAPK) has launched a new countywide food distribution initiative to assist those most impacted by the ongoing government shutdown, including CalFresh beneficiaries and federal employees.
The initiative comes as the current government shutdown has become the second longest in U.S. history, leaving some federal employees without pay while still being required to work.
"We basically put together a workforce, a current County task force on October 22nd to get things moving, because even though time was passing, the need for assistance was also passing. So we have been talking for about a week and planning and getting everything set up to get these distribution locations secured," said Savannah Oates with CAPK.
The organization is already seeing increased demand at their existing food bank, which operates Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.
"We are already seeing some individuals who are federal employees responding here at our food bank specifically for their distributions that are Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., so we've already had several families coming into our location to gather nutritional support," Oates said.
The new countywide distributions will serve all of Kern County, with locations planned for major population centers.
"For all of Bakersfield that will be mobilizing at the Kern County Fairgrounds. We're gonna have one at the Ridgecrest Fairgrounds. We're gonna have one out in Mojave, Delano, Taft. And as these addresses and locations change change, the website will be updated, so we're looking to hit all of the major outlining areas, all across Kern County," Oates said.
The need extends beyond federal employees to others in the private sector. Oscar, who requested anonymity for privacy reasons, visits the food bank monthly and welcomes the expanded services.
"This is a critical time… but thanks to this food bank we all benefit from it," Oscar said. "They're going to expand locations this is going to help a lot more people… people in other locations who really need."
CAPK has designated a website where they will regularly update distribution locations and times. The distributions are set to begin Monday morning, with website updates planned for later this evening to finalize all locations.
Due to the expanded distributions, CAPK is seeking additional volunteers to help with the initiative.
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