The Costa Rica Food Bank celebrates its 6th anniversary by reaching a total of 247 social organizations and benefiting an approximate 40,648 people.

What started as an initiative by 10 private companies to guarantee food to people in poverty and avoid the waste of food, has now grown from reaching 5 social organizations to a total 247 which receive food and first necessity items.

These social organizations care for vulnerable populations such as elderly citizens, children in poverty conditions, patients at the National Children’s’ Hospital, refugees, homeless people and addicts, among others.
“The Food Bank is one of the best examples of solidarity we have in the country, we function thanks to the donations of private companies, through volunteering programs , we move and prepare the merchandise, finally, the social organizations help us take the food to those who need it most”, explained Francia Linares, Executive Director of the Food Bank.

Currently the bank operates in three locations, San Jose, Guanacaste and Limon, and they do one weekly route to the area of San Carlos, Alajuela, distributing in this way food to organizations in the areas of more poverty.

“One of our objectives is to also contribute in avoiding the waste of food and contamination, we collect products that can no longer be commercialized but that is in good conditions for consumption. Just last year we collected 2,237,486 kilograms of products including food, personal care items, clothes and cleaning supplies to distribute among people in need”, detailed Linares.

During 2017 over 100 companies donated merchandise or offered their services to assist with the operation of this non-profit organization, and over 5000 volunteers offered their time to help in the logistics and distribution of the products.

For more information call 2291-4765 extensions 104 or 108.