Save Mart Companies CARES Foundation Names 2025 Feeding Forward Grant Recipients

The Save Mart Companies CARES Foundation has announced the 2025 awardees of its Feeding Forward grant program, directing $201,000 toward strengthening food recovery infrastructure across California and Western Nevada.

In its inaugural year, the grant generated overwhelming response with 68 proposals totaling more than $5.2 million in requests. The strong demand reflects both the growing urgency of food insecurity and the operational pressures food banks face as they work to comply with state regulations and serve record numbers of residents.

Joan Dobias-Davis, chairperson of the CARES Foundation Board and senior vice president and chief human resources officer for The Save Mart Companies, noted the Board undertook an extensive, multi-round review to identify the four organizations best positioned to benefit from this year’s funding.

“The volume and quality of proposals reflected both the urgency of community need and the incredible dedication of organizations working every day to reduce hunger,” she said. “Although many worthy applications were received, the four awardees presented the clearest combination of readiness, community reach, and the ability to lift entire neighborhoods through improved food access.”

The 2025 grants include $100,000 to Central California Food Bank, $50,000 to Second Harvest of the Greater Valley, $35,000 to True North Housing Alliance and $16,000 to Yuba-Sutter Gleaners Food Bank. Each organization will use the funds to address critical infrastructure needs tied directly to edible food recovery and SB 1383 compliance, all areas Dobias-Davis said were weighted heavily in the Board’s decision-making.

“Each awardee is addressing a barrier that limits how much food they can safely recover and distribute,” she said. “These investments directly translate into more meals, less waste, and healthier communities.”

For Central California Food Bank, the grant will provide commercial refrigerators and freezers, battery-operated scales, pallet jacks with built-in scales and tablets for real-time reporting—tools that strengthen partner agencies’ ability to safely pick up, weigh, store and document rescued food.

“These tools allow more rescued food to reach families faster and eliminate common breakdown points that prevent nutritious food from getting into local communities,” Dobias-Davis said.

Second Harvest of the Greater Valley will use its funding to upgrade warehouse equipment, including a standing forklift and the conversion of an existing forklift. These improvements, she noted, “remove warehouse bottlenecks and enable staff to move larger amounts of perishable food quickly and safely.”

True North Housing Alliance will allocate its $35,000 award toward expanded cold storage capacity, including a walk-in freezer and commercial food processors, investments that will help reduce spoilage and increase the volume of surplus prepared food they can accept.

“More cold storage means more stability for the community members who rely on them for daily nourishment and support,” Dobias-Davis said.

For Yuba-Sutter Gleaners Food Bank, the grant supports critical forklift upgrades that allow the organization to handle higher volumes of rescued food more efficiently.

The Feeding Forward program also reflects The Save Mart Companies’ own long-standing commitment to food recovery. In 2023, more than 200,000 tons of unsold food were recovered statewide. Across Save Mart, Lucky, and FoodMaxx stores, food bank partners measure impact through pounds donated, meals created and waste diverted—metrics with profound community and environmental implications.

Dobias-Davis noted that Central California Food Bank recovered 889,604 pounds of food from Save Mart Companies stores in 2024, the equivalent of more than 741,000 meals. True North Housing Alliance, through its 530 Food Rescue partnership, reports monthly carbon mitigation of more than 3,000 pounds.

“When edible food is recovered, communities are strengthened,” she said. “Children have access to healthier options, seniors on fixed incomes receive consistent support, and entire neighborhoods benefit from reduced environmental waste.”

Looking ahead, the CARES Foundation expects to continue and potentially expand the program annually.

“The strong response to the inaugural cycle confirmed that the need is significant and the opportunity to uplift communities through infrastructure support is substantial,” she said.

Applications for next year’s cycle are expected to open in Q3.

“The Save Mart Companies CARES Foundation Board is prepared to continue these efforts and commit an entire grant cycle to this important work,” Dobias-Davis said. “We know that this initial investment into our local food system will have an impact, and we remain dedicated to ensuring that our neighbors have access to the food they need to live a healthy life.”

For information on The CARES Foundation, please visit www.thesavemartcompanies.com/CARES.