December 11, 2025

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FOOD BANKS RECEIVE NEEDED RELIEF

Inyo County Second District Supervisor Jeff Griffiths is pleased to announce much-needed relief is coming to local food banks and other charitable organizations this winter thanks to a generous grant from Southern California Edison (SCE).

The $20,000 in aid was initially granted to the Eastern Sierra Foundation, on whose all-volunteer board Supervisor Griffiths serves as treasurer, in response to the government shutdown that delayed CalFresh (food stamp) benefits to 2,087 Inyo County residents and their families. CalFresh benefits are funded 100% with federal dollars and there were no mechanisms in place for state and/or local governments to temporarily continue benefits with non-federal funds. Eastern Sierra Foundation had designated the grant funding specifically for those CalFresh recipients whose food security was threatened.

With CalFresh benefits resumed at the end of the shutdown on November 12, SCE was generous enough to allow Eastern Sierra Foundation to pivot and re-distribute the money to local foods banks and other organizations instead. According to Supervisor Griffiths, the following entities will be receiving a portion of the SCE grant to bolster their food reserves and support their general efforts to provide food security to local families:

• St. Vincent de Paul

• Eastside Student Center

• United Methodist Social Services Soup Kitchen

• Owens Valley Growers for food banking in Independence and Lone Pine

• Inyo-Mono Community Advocates for Community Action (IMACA)

The latter donation, Supervisor Griffiths said, will enable IMACA to resume food commodity distributions to Southeast Inyo communities like Shoshone, Tecopa, and Charleston View. Hit hard by federal funding cutbacks, IMACA had been forced to cancel distributions to far-flung communities in both Inyo and Mono counties – much to its own dismay and that of residents.

“I cannot express my gratitude enough to both SCE and the Eastern Sierra Foundation for collaborating with these groups to help ensure nobody goes hungry this winter,” Supervisor Griffiths said. “The recipient organizations also ought to be commended for their tireless efforts to assist our community members in need.”

Supervisor Will Wadelton, whose District 5 includes Southeast Inyo, was equally grateful.

“The loss of IMACA’s commodities distributions was devastating to the residents of Shoshone, Tecopa, and Charleston View, a great percentage of whom are on very fixed incomes,” he said. “I can’t thank SCE, Eastern Sierra Foundation, and IMACA enough for coming together to address this very real and very serious crisis.”

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