Second Harvest Food Bank Tour
Group picture of everyone who went!
Russell Wang – May 31, 2025
🕒 Read time: 3 minutes
Today, on a Saturday, many students and their parents went to the Second Harvest Food Bank for a tour. This event was held by Second Harvest, a non-profit dedicated to providing food. Their mission is to end hunger (taken from the Second Harvest website).
The main speakers were Britney, a 5-year employee at Second Harvest, and Joan, a senior manager of food sourcing. Catherine, the founder of CP Mentorship, also participated in the event.
Britney and Joan talking about Second Harvest. We are listening attentively with the safety vests on.
At first, everyone gathered in the lobby, where Britney and Joan shared some basic information. We had to wear safety vests because of the forklifts carrying food.
As we walked through the hallway, we learned that the building was donated by Cypress Semiconductors. That’s why there were tech company logos like Cisco and SanDisk above the doors.
The “yellow room.”
We then entered the "yellow room," where we got lots of statistics about Second Harvest. Did you know that 60% of the food they have is fresh produce? This food comes from stores like Costco, Safeway, and 99 Ranch when they have excess, or from farms that donate extra or deformed produce.
We are walking towards the trucks.
Then we went outside, next to the many trucks that load and deliver food. There are 35 trucks total! These trucks travel all over Silicon Valley, rescuing food and delivering it to those in need.
Some trucks had company names on them—these were from businesses that raised over a million dollars in 48 hours during the Make It to a Million Challenge hosted by Second Harvest.
The warehouse, full of food.
Inside the warehouse, there were giant boxes of produce—potatoes, onions, carrots, and more—all stacked together. This produce stays there for no more than 3 days before it's distributed.
Also, 74% of their food is rescued, which added up to 93 million pounds last year. Isn’t that incredible? Much of this food, which would otherwise go to waste due to overproduction or cosmetic imperfections, is saved thanks to Second Harvest.
We also went into a freezer room, which was really, really cold!
The food packing “assembly line”
Later, we helped package meals in an “assembly line.” These were ready-to-eat meals for people without a kitchen. We had to pack specific items into a bag, then tie a knot on it.
Cardboard Box folding machine
Next, we visited the sorting and packaging room. There were lots of friendly volunteers sorting produce and even chicken. There was also a cool machine that folded cardboard boxes automatically!
The meeting room
Finally, we went into a meeting room and each shared what we learned. Turns out—we learned a lot about Second Harvest!
