About Fallbrook Food Pantry
We are dedicated to supporting our neighbors in need within the Fallbrook community, providing help and hope when it matters most.
Mission
Through food distribution, education, and health monitoring, we work to address food insecurity and the social determinants of health by reducing inequities. We empower our clients to become self-sufficient, independent, and productive community members by offering a well-balanced selection of food, nutrition, wellness, & vocational education.
Vision
To build long-term solutions that reduce food insecurity, improve health outcomes and self-sufficiency, and decrease health inequities.
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Our Story
Explore the history and heart behind our mission to serve the Fallbrook community.
Fallbrook Mission Project was formed in 1991 as a religious service organization to offer economic assistance, emotional support, and spiritual nurturing while promoting client self-esteem and dignity. In 2005, the pantry moved away from its religious status, became an official 501(c)(3), and changed its name to Fallbrook Food Pantry.
With a 35-year history of service to Fallbrook, the organization has become deeply involved in the community and has built strong personal relationships reflecting the small, rural nature of the Fallbrook region. Because the community is semi-isolated from many of the larger services available in the city of San Diego, Fallbrook Food Pantry plays an important role in meeting the complex needs of its diverse clientele.
Since 1991, the pantry has made significant progress in putting healthy food on families' tables. Over time, the need became clear for a more holistic model that could address deeper systemic issues and the Social Determinants of Health.
Thanks to community generosity and a successful capital campaign, Fallbrook Food Pantry purchased a new building in 2019. The facility includes a state-of-the-art demonstration kitchen and learning space designed to provide inclusive and culturally relevant education for the food-insecure population.
Our Values
These core principles guide everything we do to support and nourish our unique community.
Service & Compassion
Dignity & Diversity
Connection & Teamwork
Powered by Partnership
It Takes a Community to Feed a Community
Fallbrook Food Pantry is built on partnership.
Our day-to-day work depends on the generosity of our community, charitable grants, local donors, businesses, foundations, food rescue partners, volunteers, and nonprofit partners who believe that everyone should have access to nutritious food.
These relationships allow us to stretch resources further, rescue food that might otherwise go to waste, purchase food at reduced costs, and bring additional food programs directly to the Fallbrook community.
Simply put, we could not do this work alone.
Our Food Bank Partners
Two of our most important hunger-relief partnerships are with the San Diego Food Bank and Feeding San Diego. Through these partnerships, Fallbrook Food Pantry is able to access and purchase a variety of food to supplement what we receive through local donations and food rescue.
These relationships strengthen our ability to maintain a consistent supply of food and respond to the changing needs of our community.
San Diego Food Bank
Our partnership with the San Diego Food Bank helps bring additional food resources directly to Fallbrook. In addition to accessing food through their nonprofit partner network, Fallbrook Food Pantry serves as a local distribution site for programs administered by the San Diego Food Bank. These include:
- Emergency Food Assistance Program (EFAP/TEFAP)
- Neighborhood Distribution
Through these programs, additional food resources can be distributed locally to members of the Fallbrook community.
Feeding San Diego
Fallbrook Food Pantry is also an agency partner of Feeding San Diego. Through this partnership, we are able to access food for our regular pantry distributions and participate in food recovery opportunities that connect nonprofit organizations with food that can be redirected to families instead of going to waste. These resources help supplement our purchased food, community donations, and other food rescue efforts so that we can continue offering a variety of nutritious foods throughout the year.
Our Community Partners
Our partnerships extend far beyond food banks. Local grocery stores, farms, businesses, service organizations, foundations, churches, community groups, and individual donors all play an important role in keeping our pantry moving.
Some partners donate food.
Some provide financial support.
Some fund programs through grants.
Some give their time.
Some provide professional services, supplies, equipment, or other resources.
Every partnership looks a little different, but each one contributes to the same goal: making our community stronger.
Our Local Food Rescue Partners
Food rescue is an important part of how we serve our community while reducing unnecessary food waste. Through relationships with grocery stores and other food partners throughout North County and San Diego, our team conducts regular pickups of fresh produce, bread, dairy, proteins, and other eligible foods that can be safely redirected to our pantry.
Our staff and volunteer drivers bring these items back to Fallbrook, where they are inspected, sorted, stored, and prepared for distribution. Food that still has value shouldn't go to waste when it can help feed a neighbor.
Meet Our Team
Shae Gawlak
CEO
Gabriela Jimenez
Programs Manager
Ellen Fusco
Clients Relations Manager
Elijah Bell
Warehouse Manager
Robert Ramos Cruz
Warehouse Assistant
Bella Smart
Client Representative
Avery Kreamer
Social Media Manager