Food Banks Receive Needed Relief

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 Edison International.

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 Edison International 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 Edison International, Eastern Sierra Foundation, and IMACA enough for coming together to address this  very real and very serious crisis.”

News Staff