Show: Insight Station: KNCO File: 10:5.mp3 Air date: 2026-10-05 Source: OpenAI whisper-1 · shrunk from 98.6 MB to 12.3 MB --- transcript --- Welcome to KNCO Insight, Nevada County Action, KNCO's local issue talk show. This is your chance to gain insight into issues affecting Nevada County. Be a part of the show. Call with your questions or comments. The number, 477-5626, that's 477-KNCO. The opinions expressed are those of the hosts and callers and do not reflect the opinions of the advertiser, staff, or ownership of Nevada County Broadcasters. Now here is your host, Tom Fitzsimmons. And KNC Newstime, just about 907 and 77 degrees, yes, it's going to be another very warm day here in Nevada County. National Weather Service has a heat advisory in effect now until Wednesday evening. So we have another three days of kind of, at least right now, hot muggy weather. Some clouds out there made for a beautiful sunrise earlier this morning. Yeah, it's going to get into the low 90s today, tomorrow, Wednesday. That means I get those errands done early, keep the pets at home. There's no need to do any shopping with certainly dog or cat in the car. Certainly dogs get really hot and you might think you have shade. This time with the sun angle, it moves quickly and all of a sudden what was a shady spot becomes a sunny spot when you're inside a store. So just err on the side of just being safe with your pets. And then of course, I talk about this all the time too. One thing wonderful about our community is how loving and caring people are with their neighbors. If you know a neighbor that has some physical limitations, they could have just limitations of getting out because they have so many kids at home, perhaps, things like that. If you could run an errand for them, that'd be great. An errand could range from anything from running to the store, but also just getting the mail maybe, especially if there's somebody older, to come out to the street and bring the mail to them or the trash cans, things like that. That's what it's all about. One organization that knows that better than anybody is Food Bank of Nevada County because for 40 years, they've been depending on the generosity of people that our listeners are famous for helping out and Brett Bentley is here, Executive Director of the Food Bank. Brett, when I last saw you, you had a daughter going off to college. I did. So how's that working for you? She's living her best life in San Diego. Well somebody has to live in La Jolla. This is true. This is true. It's great to be able to walk to the beach while we're sitting through a heat wave without the ocean next to us. It is incredible down there, isn't it? It's like one of the most beautiful places in the world. It is absolutely beautiful. I went to college in Colorado and I started to regret my choices once I saw where she was going. Well, where in Colorado did you go? Did you go to Boulder? I went to University of Northern Colorado. Oh, in Greeley. Greeley, yes. Yes, I remember that place many years ago. What did you take there, if you don't mind me asking? Journalism. Journalism. Good for you. You could be a journalist up there, perhaps. You would think, no. Journalism. All right. And Daphne is here as well, Daphne Morgan, a development manager for the Food Bank of Nevada County. Just found out she's Canadian. I didn't know you were Canadian, Daphne. Where are you from in Canada? I'm from Northern British Columbia. Oh, look at that. You know what? The name Fitzsimmons is big up there. There's like Fitzsimmons Mountains up there and all that stuff. Oh, hello. You're famous. Nice. Not really. I want you to know this, because Daphne has little ones at home. This is my grandson. And see how his hair? He's cute as can be, right? He is so adorable. And his hair is messed up. Yes. I asked my daughter, because my Rangers, I'm a hockey fan. My Rangers won a game where the goaltender actually scored a goal. And I said, can you do this? Go to your son and mess up his hair. Just like rub his hair and just see what his reaction was. That was his reaction. I'm just kind of a stunned look. Why are you doing that? Yes. So, we've done that two games in a row. So, we'll see how that all works out. Yes. All right. All right. All right. All right. Yes. So, we've done that two games in a row. So, we'll see how that all works out. Yes. But you were at the Niners game, right? Yes. I was, actually, with a Bronco fan, one of my fellow UNC graduates. Yes. Yes. Yes. They're serious about Broncos over in Colorado. They are. There was quite a few Colorado fans in the audience. But thankfully, we prevailed. Yes. Exactly right. Yes. A good win by the Niners. Daphne, you're not really a sports fan. No. I'm not a sports fan. You are? I'm, unfortunately, not a hockey fan, as a Canadian, and not really a football fan. Sorry, everybody. Do you like a particular sport, though? I love the San Francisco Giants. I like watching baseball. Baseball. Very good. Yes. And I love track and field, cross-country. Now, since you like the Giants, have you learned to hate the Dodgers, as well? Oh, yes. That was one of the very first things I ever taught my three-year-old. Wow. I love this woman. That actually came up in the interview. It did. Oh, wow. I don't hire Dodgers fans. Daphne, wonderful. That has put me over the top. The Dodgers lost yesterday, so that was a good thing. You know, I'm a Met fan, but that's fine if the Dodgers lose. Anybody but the Dodgers, the way I'm looking at it right now. Forty years. The Food Bank's been doing it, Brett. The 40th anniversary is a big deal. It is a very big deal, and we're very excited about it this year. We've got a new campaign that's starting in just about a week, where we're really going to be rolling out a lot of stories, talking about our history. We're going to be talking about the history of the food bank. We're going to be talking about the history of the food bank. We're going to be talking about the history of the food bank. Forty years doesn't seem like that long, but when you've been doing a day-to-day, it has a big impact in the community, and there's some really wonderful people that we're looking forward to highlighting to talk about their impact in our community and how we got to where we are because of them. We're excited for that all happening. It's amazing what can happen over 40 years. I don't know if the economy is just the one thing. We're finding out administrations have a lot to do with it as well, as far as availability and grants and things that can maybe help with food security for a food bank to perform what they have to do. Is this about the toughest it's been for the food bank, as far as the times are? It is a challenging time. We are definitely seeing funding shifts. We're having to spend more money out of pocket for food these days than we've ever had to before. We are learning to adapt and work through it, but historically, I know we've had some tough times because we were grassroots. We were founded in 1986 on a very small grant, $28,000 from a county committee, and then that grew and grew. As of even just 15 years ago, we were still very much a hardworking board where they were there making sure everything happened. Since COVID, we've really turned a corner and made sure that we're going to be stable as an organization to be there for the community. We are in a position where we can do this, but we've never had to expend as much funds in our budget. Last week, we started our new fiscal year, and we had to work a lot of money into our budget to pay just for food that we didn't previously need to pay for. Wow. Okay. Does that scare you ladies at all, just how the coffers are doing and things like that? Yes. Just to make sure. Really, what scares me is making the thought that the people in our community are going to go hungry. I lose sleep when I know that we cannot provide food to meet the needs of this community. We are working very hard to make sure that doesn't happen, and we are going to be there for this community. We don't only serve directly, but we serve organizations in this community that really help us stretch that gap and bridge the need. We're just trying to make sure we're there for this community. There's a lot of ways you can give of your time and your money. Helping those that are food insecure seems super important. Now, Daphne, as Development Director and Manager, what does that mean for our listeners out there? Can you explain what you do with your job? Yes. Definitely. My job is kind of multifaceted. I work with fundraising, I apply for grants, I do donor relations, and ultimately, I help to take the stories, the experiences, and the feedback that we get from our donors and our volunteers and our clients and our community agencies. I help to share that story through social media, through this campaign that's coming up where I'm going to be sharing a lot of different stories and experiences from people who have been a part of our story for 40 years. Really helping to put faces and experiences to what people in our community are going through and what types of barriers they might be facing to getting food. Just kind of normalizing the concept of being able to come to a food bank and get food if that's what you need to be able to make it to either the next paycheck or the next distribution. I always worry about people that hesitate to do just what you just said about not doing it, whether it's out of pride or fear or whatever the hesitation might be. Can you help them at all, Daphne, on maybe overcoming that and if they need help getting help? Yeah. I think a lot of it comes down to people just perhaps not understanding what the food bank does until you've come to the food bank and actually picked up a distribution or you've come and volunteered and seen kind of what goes on. I had somebody say the other day that they thought the food bank was something more like a soup kitchen and they just didn't understand what it was that we actually do at the food bank. So I think understanding that this is for people who might just need to – can't quite get the groceries that they need until the next week or perhaps, as we always say, something as simple but as detrimental as your car breaking down and not being able to – having to decide whether to fix your car or pay for groceries. I've been reflecting on this a lot and thinking back to my early 20s when I was in college and I think, oh my goodness, I wish that I had known that the food bank was an option for me. I was a struggling student paying for school and living on my own and had I known that a food bank was an option and that I would have been able to get really healthy, quality food and that people would have been so lovely, I would have come. So I wish more people knew that in our community that this is an option and it's here for you if you need it. Yeah. So are people getting the word out there or can we do a better job doing that? I mean, even as a radio station, we try to get PSAs out there and stuff. Yeah. I think so. I think a great way to get familiar with the food bank is we have – every single month we have a food for thought and it's the first Thursday, yes, first Thursday, it's a really cool opportunity to come in. It's at 10 a.m. It's just for one hour. You come in. Brett does an excellent overview of what the food bank is and then she does a tour as well in the warehouse. So you really get a good sense. You walk away having a really good sense of what the food bank is and then volunteering if that's something that you have the capacity to do or just coming through if you need food, coming to one of our distributions, give us a call if you have any confusion about where that might be or how it works. We're always happy to help or stop in and just reaching out to us. We're here. We're a community. We're part of this community. So if you have any questions and you want to see something or you don't quite understand it, just reach out and we're always more than happy to share what the food bank is and how we can support you. Okay. If somebody is hungry out there and they're Dodger fans. We will still feed them. We will still feed you. Hunger takes precedence. All right. Fair enough. I just wanted to make sure that in case some of those people out there are hungry. But we're going to take our first break here as we're highlighting the food bank in Nevada County today. So a quick break. Make your happy place. Grass Valley Brewing Company on East Main Street. Great beer, people, and now a full bar serving handcrafted cocktails. There's always something happening all week, Mondays are open mic night, Thursday it's trivia or karaoke. And on the first Sunday of the month, catch kind of Celtic Sunday afternoons. Plus I've got delicious traditional pub food. 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All in a warm, welcoming environment. Crystal Ridge Care Center. Exceptional care, every day. Visit us at 396 Dorsey Drive in Grass Valley. Call 530-272-2273 or tour online at crystalridgecares.com. KNC Newstime, 921-79 degrees. Welcome back to KNC Insight, highlighting the Food Bank of Nevada County. Their 40th celebration anniversary going to be happening. And they're doing a couple of things that have been talked about by both Brett and Daphne about getting the stories of those that have been helped by the Food Bank. Where are the stories coming from, Brett? Oh, goodness. Daphne's done a really wonderful job of gathering former employees, past employees who've made a big impact, and past board members, clients, and our volunteers who do all the hard work. Just last week, her and I had the opportunity to go visit a client that is on our home delivery list, which means he's homebound. He cannot get out to get groceries himself. He is a veteran, served in Vietnam in the Navy, and is just a really hardworking human who's not able to get out on his own, and he struggles. Eating healthy is extremely important to him. He's got a dog who's getting older as well, and he wants to take care of that dog because that dog is his life. That's his companion. Yeah, absolutely. And he shuts his electricity off at night because he's living on his Navy retirement, and it's tight. And he, to save money, will shut off all of his electricity during the night. Wow. Yeah. I don't know if I've ever heard of somebody doing that. I can understand it, but it shows ... I mean, we were just talking about auto bills and stuff. Yes. It's not even a breakdown. It's just filling up your tank. I was just going to say that as well. Right now. Yeah. And paying for electricity. Even if you ... Did that take your breath away a little bit? Oh, absolutely. Because it kind of took my breath away just thinking about that. struggles to get around a little bit, and then to know that the lights are off at night and if he has to get up, it's concerning. You want to make sure that these people are being taken care of, that he's being taken care of. He served our country, and we need to do a better job of caring for those people, caring for anybody who needs food, who needs just some basic human rights. All right. Stephanie, you meet a gentleman like that, that served our nation and the like. Was it an interview you did, just what the food bank has meant for him to be stable and stay healthy? Yeah. He and I ... Actually, it was a phone call that I answered at the food bank, and he and I started chatting. Right away, he told me just about how crucial the food bank is to him and how it's so important to him. He said that ... I think one of the things he really emphasized was that we have really healthy food, and that, like Brett mentioned, that is really important to him to have access to that. He just said, I don't know what I would do otherwise without this home delivery. By the end of that conversation, I said, hey, would you mind if I stop by and meet you and ask you a few more questions? You never know when you ask somebody that. Either they're going to say, no, thank you, or yes, very much. He was a yes, very much. He really wanted to share this, and it feels like it's really important to talk about this and, again, to normalize that there's people out there needing food in our community. He kindly invited us into his home where we met his dog, and he just shared a little bit more about his life. I think for us, that's also ... I mean, that's a huge part of this, is not just ... It goes deeper than just giving people food. I think if you've ever worked, volunteered at one of our distributions as well, and you see all of these people coming through the line, you get snippets and bits and pieces of people's lives. Some people are quiet, and they keep their windows rolled up, and they're doing their own thing. There's other people whose windows are down, and having a smile and a little conversation with somebody is what they're wanting. Always there is deep gratitude and appreciation. I just think those human-to-human moments in our community, it's really profound. I've walked away from every single distribution I've ever been at thinking, wow, on so many different levels, just wow that we are able to do this, and wow, the need here is really big. There's a lot of people here who are needing this assistance. That says a lot, and each one of them has their own experience, their own story, their own reasons for being here. That's part of what we need to do to understand what we need to address about food security is also understanding their stories. When we have benefits getting cut, and there's work, things going on with CalFresh and requirements, I understand the politics, I guess, of it and such, but Brett, it is true just what Daphne said. The people that really need this, really need this. They really need this, yes. I think it is easy to not understand that. I would encourage anybody to come to one of our distributions and just see. It's not a depressing thing. Like she mentioned, it's really uplifting. Some of them are nervous to be there. This last distribution in Grass Valley, we had a lot of new people come through, a lot of people who said, I haven't been here in years. It can be something as simple as just having to fill your gas tank. Do you fill your gas tank, or do you eat? That's what we're there for. When they come through, they are so grateful for the food. I don't always get a chance to be at distribution now, but when I do, it's really a nice reminder for me that what we do is truly valued in this community. If I'm not there, sometimes I love getting the phone calls when I'm sitting in the office saying, I cannot believe I just got back from distribution and opened my groceries, and I cannot believe how much fresh produce you guys provide. This is amazing. We truly believe in treating these people with dignity and choice, and they should have access to fresh, nutritious food that's going to be nutritionally dense to allow them to thrive. If they're not thriving, if they are still continuing to go down this pathway of hunger, it degrades a lot of things in their world. Food is nourishing. It uplifts them. It helps them be the best part of them they can be. How are you able to do fresh produce? We pay for it. Speaking of grants, we had a really lovely grant that was the Local Food Purchase Agreement through the USDA. We had two years of funding to buy from local farmers. Local farmers, which was the ultimate win-win I think I've ever heard. It absolutely is. It's been really wonderful to lift these farmers up and to invest in them and to give back. Just last year in 2025 alone, we invested over $125,000 directly into Nevada County Farms and then an additional $250,000 in the watershed. That's only because our local farmers are so small, they can't give us the amount of food we need, the amount of produce we need. We are continuing to work with them and we're committed. As the board approved the budget, that was one thing they really stood behind and believed as well is we need to continue to fund this. The state has a program that they came out with this year. We still haven't heard anything about it. We don't know how much money we're getting, but we did set aside money in the budget so that we could purchase food. We set aside about a quarter of our food budget is going to paying for 25% paying for fresh local produce. But as far as that national program, that's gone. That's sunsetted. That's gone. Hopefully at some point it comes back because it is a win-win for the community. We're putting money into the economy. We're helping to pay for jobs here in the economy. We're giving back fresh healthy produce and it benefits everybody. If they can expand their operation and grow more, the farmers benefit. Our clients benefit. The community benefits because they show up at the farmers market with an even bigger array or plethora of just beautiful produce grown right here. I'm glad the state, I guess they're going to come up with their state program. Hopefully it happens. I don't know. These elections, everybody's holding their breath with elections, I guess. Is that part of it, Daphne, knowing the funding is kind of up in the air right now? Yeah, I think the funding is up in the air and then it's our job to just kind of keep steady and make sure that we are ensuring that we have the budget to purchase food as needed and fill in the gaps. Politics are politics. Things are always going to ebb and flow and things are going to change. That is kind of the landscape of where we live and how we get funding. For 40 years, we've been managing that and navigating that, so I think, yes, and kind of keeping focused and keeping the experiences and the stories of the people at the forefront because at the end of the day, that's really what it's about. That helps us to, I think, stay steady in the ups and downs of funding. How do you guys keep your spirits up, if you don't mind me asking? I'll start with you, Daphne, because it has to be kind of like frustrating at times. Yeah, it is frustrating at times, and I think for me personally, I find that I just use that as fuel to do my job better and to kind of continue thinking about what types of platforms I can have to raise awareness around what's happening here in terms of food insecurity and who are the actual people who are experiencing this and why it's so important to continue to fight for this, as Brett said, really basic human right that is food. My frustration is channeled in that form, and I think, I don't know, I think just keeping myself in it, keeping myself going to the distribution and meeting the people and having interactions with our community really helps me. It actually uplifts me. I think it does more than it makes me feel frustrated. It makes me feel like, wow, we live in such a great community, and people are so willing to help one another and to care for one another. And those that are being helped are so grateful. Yeah, it does fill up your soul, but Brett, you know, I think you too, how do you keep your spirits up? Well, especially, yeah, if you're not getting to distributions regularly and seeing the impact directly in the community, it can be hard because you are fighting an uphill battle constantly, but it does, like she said, it's a really amazing community that we live in. The people step up to support us. They step up to volunteer. The clients are grateful that we're there. They make it really wonderful. I love to hear the impact we make in their world. I love to see the smiles on their faces when we're at distribution. Something as simple as having really beautiful produce makes their whole day, and that to me is the value that we get out of it. I mean, we're doing the right thing for this community. I love this community. I've made it my home for the last 28 years, and I really want to make sure that we are there as an organization to continue to give back to this community and ensure that we are a stable, resilient community. If something were to happen in the world or to our food system, this community is who's going to take care of each other. Politics aside, anything like that, we are here for each other, and we need to continue to step up, and this is just one way of doing it. Yeah, I have to admit we're doing a pretty good job when people are really wondering if it could be possible, but yeah, it seems like we're hanging in there in a very tough climate right now. Anyway, we have to get a news update. I'm late again. News update, weather forecast, we'll be right back. I'm Chris Gilbert with the KNCO Local News Update. October is also the first month that some California residents are losing CalFresh benefits as new federal work requirements officially went into effect. Recipients 18 to 64 years old who are not disabled and don't have a dependent child under 14 instead of 18 must now meet the requirement of working or volunteering for 80 hours a month or 20 hours a week. But Nevada County Social Services Director Rachel Pena says so far very few have been dropped or just three for this month out of over 16,000 on the roll locally. She credits good outreach efforts from staff to make sure recipients understand the changes. And we've been doing this for months. We've been working really closely with the volunteer hub and so we're at connecting points. We've also been doing a lot of helping with people in terms of making sure they get the paperwork in. We definitely don't want people to lose benefits because they haven't heard about the changes or they don't get their paperwork in. But Pena also points out that you now have to turn in that paperwork every six months instead of once a year. And she also says fewer people are exempt. She also notes that these requirements will also impact Medi-Cal recipients starting in January. And a free community conversation about legacy planning and the future of the arts and culture in Nevada County is coming up later this month at the Center for the Arts. It will be facilitated by the Center's Executive Director Michelle Amador. She says local and regional leaders in financial planning, estate law, philanthropy and arts advocacy will be coming together. We're one of 24 state-designated cultural districts across the state. But having that is something that takes tending to. Like all of the things that we value, how do we align our financial resources with the values and places and people that we want to sustain even beyond our own lifetime? Amador says legacy planning is often treated as something we do much later in life, but she says philanthropy can evolve with us throughout our lives. But she also notes that it isn't necessarily something reserved for people with a lot of money. She says this conversation, which she hopes will be held annually, is an opportunity to think about what we value, what we want our community to look like in the future and the many ways we can begin investing in the future now. That's happening Friday, October 23rd from 5.30 to 7.30 p.m. Join us for our next local news update at the bottom of the hour. And for news and weather anytime, go to knco.com. I'm Chris Gilbert, KNCO News Talk 830. Discover the stories that shaped Nevada County on History Unfolded, hosted by Tom Fitzsimmons and myself, Mike Stewart, the special guests, the second and fourth Mondays at 9 a.m., brought to you by Mowell Paint and Glass, serving Nevada County since 1949, and Smarter Broadband, local, reliable, high-speed internet. Don't miss the voices, the stories, and the history that make our community unique, right here on KNCO News Talk 830. When you're shopping for insurance, you might say, what? Huh? I'm so over this. But what you really need to say is something that could actually help. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. When you get a local State Farm agent, they can help make it easy and help you choose the coverage you need. Plus, they're available online, over the phone, or even in person. I'm so into this. Call State Farm Agent Mike Bratton in Grass Valley at 530-273-0521. This from the KNCO B&C ACE Home and Garden Center Weather Center. ACE is the place. Here is your forecast on KNCO News Talk 830. A heat advisory continues in effect. Sunny with a high in the low 90s today, a very light easterly wind. It'll be clear overnight to our low 64. Sunny and warm on Tuesday with a high 91. Tuesday night, mostly clear, our low in the low 60s. Sunny and low 90s again on Wednesday. For weather anytime, click on the weather center at knco.com. I'm meteorologist Dan Holliday on KNCO News Talk 830. KNCO News Time, just about 938, 80 degrees. Welcome back to KNCO Insight, highlighting the Food Bank of Nevada County with Brett Bentley, Executive Director. Daphne Morgan here as well, Development Manager. Talking about the whole thing about the Food Bank of Nevada County, sometimes we don't talk about it enough, Brett, but you guys are up in Truckee as well. That's actually a really, yes, you are correct. We are up in Truckee as well. We go up twice a month and deliver food through Sierra Community House. They do a weekly distribution up there and are a great organization and do a lot to support them. It's interesting that you bring that up because one of the things we were wanting to mention is supporting local and how important that is. We're here for 40 years. We can be here for 40 years because this community has shown up for us and we show up for it every week. Just recognizing what local means because we've had another food bank who has come in and started fundraising in our community. They sent a mailer out. They're in another state. I didn't know this. The state of Nevada. They should not be fundraising in our community as far as we're concerned. We just wanted people to know what local really means. In fact, it's turned into a really nice thing. We've mentioned this for the last year, but Interfaith Food Ministry and the Food Bank of Nevada County is working closer together than we ever have before. They're also a little outraged about this situation. We're really trying to get the word out of what local means and supporting local. That means giving to Interfaith or giving to Food Bank of Nevada County when it comes to supporting hunger in our community. Are they doing it by mailers? Correct. By mailers. What do they call this? Northern Nevada Food Bank. It's confusing. You know one of our volunteers? Sure. Because Nevada, Nevada County, right? Absolutely. We had a donor who received it in his mailbox and walked it in the door to us because he was very concerned that it was going to impact us and our donations that we receive because people probably feel that they're going to be writing a check to the Food Bank of Nevada County when instead they're sending it out of state where it's not going to support. And I will give the Food Bank credit. They do support Truckee as well. We both do, but not outside of Truckee. We truly are the Food Bank of Nevada County. We hit every corner of this community. We are in the little town of Washington, South County, Penn Valley, North San Juan, Truckee, Grass Valley, and now we're trying to really expand our reach and help support the communities that really need it. Our Penn Valley distribution that we started just back last December has grown almost doubled in size. We are seeing really high numbers coming through there now. And we're working closely with North San Juan to make sure that we can make an impact up there because we're only up there once a month. So we're trying to grow what we do up there and strengthen our partner agencies that are there so that people have fresh and healthy food up there more frequently, that they'll have access once a week or once every other week instead of once a month. Because there's just not a lot of options for the people who live up there if transportation is a barrier. All right. Is there a way to have these people cease and desist from being actively soliciting here in Nevada County or is that not possible? I don't know if that's possible. What I can control is our message and I can control what we do about it. So for that, it means that we're just letting the community truly know what local means. We filmed a fun little video with Interfaith Food Ministry last week that we're going to put out on social media. Local means local. Local means Nevada County, the state of California, Nevada County. And that means giving to the Food Bank of Nevada County, giving to Interfaith Food Ministry. That's where your money stays local. All right. So people be careful just reading the mail. That's frustrating as development manager, knowing that some of that money is maybe going across the state line. I think it's more frustrating is just that it's really easy to look at something and see Nevada and then just think that you're donating to the food bank. I've never gotten anything from other than the local food bank. Right. So I would just urge people to really take an extra look at the wording and make sure and if you have any questions, of course, just call us and we're happy to answer. And then as Brett said, just make sure that it's going local. If that's what you care about and that's where you want it, make sure it's local here with us at the food bank or at Interfaith Food Ministry. I will say this. I pulled up the picture of your board of directors you have. That's a pretty dynamic board of directors. It is. We are very fortunate. That's five people, but they're pretty dynamic people. It is a small but strong board. Yes, you are correct. We're fortunate to have such a good board. We are hopeful that we're going to be adding one or two new board members here in the new year. Okay. They are very powerful. They make things happen. They help us make things happen. All right. Dean Barton, I'm not familiar with, though. I have to have this guy on sometime. Dean, yeah, he's with Apple and Associates. He's born and raised in this community, been a great part of the community for a very long time. You know, there's some nonprofits that are sexier than others, if you don't mind me saying. That's okay. You can say it. I've been told that, too. They've got fun events, whether it's dinners where you wear white. I'm not saying it's just the hospital foundation, but you know what I'm saying. It's fun and it's festive. They raise tons of money. Oh, absolutely. For great causes. I mean, I'm battling cancer, so I mean, the stuff that they built in the cancer center is wonderful. It is. That we could keep it locally and stuff and the care here. Food insecurity doesn't seem to be very sexy for a lot of people, but it's probably the most important thing we could do. You are absolutely correct. The hospital foundation plays a significant role in this community. I have my own little connection with them, having worked there briefly for a time many, many years ago before I went back to the hospital. They do really wonderful work, but you're right. It is a little bit sexier than talking about food insecurity. Not everybody likes to talk about that. We did an event and the event was really popular, but what we realized this year is the need has changed. The funding has changed. for us to put the time and the energy and the money into what it takes to put an event like that on. We decided that Beyond the Plate should transition to a digital campaign, and that's exactly what we're going to do. Starting in about a week and through the fall, we're going to be actively telling our story and talking about our 40th and asking people to support us because that way we can guarantee 98% of their donation goes directly to feeding people. It will go to help us pay for that food that we have to pay for now that we didn't have to before, that we were fortunate enough to get donations walking in the door of food or really successful fund drives or food drives, really strong support from both the state and the federal government. As that's changing, we do have to pay for food. To do that, we want to keep this community strong and we're asking people to support us for our 40th anniversary to just step up and give to us directly because that is the fastest, easiest way for us to make a huge impact in this community. Can people put on their own food drives, Ms. Development Director? Yes, absolutely. People can and have been for a long time, so I just want to acknowledge that there are people in the community who probably haven't got shout outs, who have done food drives for a really long time and do it every year and they do it amongst their friends or their schools or their various organizations and we're really grateful for that and they just kind of do it on their own and they show up with hundreds of pounds of food and we're like, wow, this is just amazing. So yes, there is an updated link on the website. You can go to that. You can check out food drives, click on food drive and in that is a little document for online or in-person, so a virtual or an in-person food drive and has all the basic information about what types of foods we might be looking for. You can come by and grab a bin. We can come and drop off a bin if that's what you need. We can also come and collect the food if you can't fit it in your car, you need some assistance. No problem. Just call us and we can help you coordinate that and then a virtual food drive would look like doing some type of online fundraising. So perhaps that might be amongst your friends, perhaps that as the holidays are approaching, maybe that's something that you do as a gift for somebody. Maybe you don't need any more Christmas presents this year and what you really want is food for everyone in your community and you want to do a really cool challenge amongst your friends or your family or in honor of somebody. We're always here and feel free to give me a call, give us a call. We're always happy to think about interesting ideas of how to do some type of a virtual food drive. But yes, food drives and right now we have one coming up. There's going to be one at South Yuba Gym. I know we have bins in Bank of America. There's going to be a Lake of the Pines food drive in early December, December 4th. December 4th. Look at that. Look at you. Yeah. All right. So we do and again, we have people who walk in food almost weekly who have done just kind of an impromptu food drive and it's really kind and really like a beautiful thing to see. People just taking their own initiative to do that. It goes a long ways and it makes a huge impact, especially coming into the holidays. We try really hard to make sure that people have food at the holidays and that that shouldn't be one more concern on their plate. So we do a full turkey meal as well as a full Christmas meal, holiday meal. All right. So, you know, I just noticed on Facebook, not that I Facebook much, anybody that has me as a friend on Facebook, I apologize. I never put anything on there just because I go, I'm such an old guy. I remember when it first started, when my kids were in college and I just kind of kept tabs on them. That's exactly what I do with Instagram. Yeah. Okay. There you go. Yeah. But I noticed that they have a thing because it's my birthday month this month that I guess there's ways to kind of put together a fundraising campaign there. Can you do it for the food bank through Facebook? Yes. Absolutely. Yes. Contact us. We'll be happy to help you set it up. We would love that. We can help you, Tom. Yes. Yeah. I wonder if anybody would actually respond. I might set myself up for embarrassment. Anyway, we're down the homestretch here of KNC Insight talking about the food bank in Nevada County. So a quick break. We'll be right back. Life doesn't stop when you need surgery, but the right care can help you get back to it sooner. Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital offers robotic assisted procedures that can improve accuracy and may reduce disruption to your body, which can help you heal faster to get back to living fully because progress in the operating room should mean progress in your life. 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For reliable, nonpartisan information about candidates and issues, including local candidate forums, visit the League of Women Voters of Nevada County at lwvnevadacounty.org or visit vote411.org. November 3rd is Election Day. Your vote. Your future. Make it count. Paid for by the League of Women Voters of Nevada County. Alright, KNC Newstime, 95181 degrees on the homestretch here of KNC Insight with our monthly visit with the Food Bank of Nevada County. Brett and Daphne nice enough to give up their time to kind of come on in here. I just went on Facebook and created the fundraiser. Alright, it looks like it was pretty easy. Here's the interesting thing though about our discussion a little bit earlier. I put in, you know, search nonprofits. I put in Food Bank of Nevada County, which it came up as the first option. Option number two was the Food Bank of Northern Nevada. Yes. Wow. They're in the state of Nevada, not Nevada County, California. Yes. So again, look at it closely everybody if you want to do something like this. Look at the return address. Grass Valley is what you want. Yeah. But it looks like it's pretty simple. Yes. Yeah. It is. And let me tell you, if I figured it out, you have a good chance. And there was actually a way to click on where it actually goes into Instagram as well. Oh, great. So I guess maybe we'll get the double pop. We'll get the notification. Yeah. Yeah. So people, let me get this straight then, Daphne. People can donate, you know, through my cause that I'd like to raise money and then just make this big pot of money appear and it goes directly to you guys? Absolutely. Yeah. There's many different ways to donate. And our website is updated, so go check out our website. If you click on donate, it will take you to a page and you have a few different options for donating. If you have the ability and desire to be a monthly donor, we are always looking to have more monthly donors and you can do that if you have $5, $10, whatever is comfortable for you. So you can become a monthly donor or you can donate once, you can start a fundraiser. Yeah. There's all kinds of different ways to donate. All right. So if you're a Facebook person, just look me up. And if you're not a friend, I can try to friend you if I can figure that out. But again, you know, I don't know how much longer I'm going to be doing it. I don't want to get too morbid or anything like this, but I have been battling cancer for like five years and it's getting a little bit tougher lately. So if, and I've never done this before, so if you've like listening to me on the air for 31 years and stuff, especially if you're sports fans, like doing your kid's basketball, football games and all that stuff over the year, if you could throw soccer, if you could throw five, 10 bucks, 20 bucks, you know, into that little kitty and stuff and make it happen, I would appreciate it. Obviously the food bank will. Oh, yes. You know, I'm going to be stuck with that Navy vet in my mind that's shutting off his electricity at night. That really took the breath out of me just to think about that gentleman. Is he going to be warm this winter? Do you know, when he's cutting off his duties that way? One of the reasons we are aware of him, not just because he's a home delivery client, is because we have some really incredible volunteers. And we have a couple, Bill and Tina, who do just amazing work. They joined with us about two years ago and they volunteer a lot. They do so much and they are so caring. So he is on their home delivery route and they have taken their home delivery clients to doctor's appointments. They helped him move when he got an improved place. They didn't like the way he was living previously and they were able to work with adult social services through the county and work to get him placed in a better location. And so I know that they always have an eye out for him and we are definitely going to be following up to make sure because that is one of the nice things about our home delivery program. Twice a month we have volunteer drivers who take groceries to those who can't get out, can't come get groceries. And it gives them a chance to kind of be one other set of eyes protecting those clients. Yeah, it's like a welfare check type of thing to make sure, right? Absolutely. And part of our obligation is mandated reporters to let people know if there's an issue or we see a problem. So it's one more level of what we do that a lot of people aren't aware of. It's not just providing groceries, it's making sure those people have someone to talk to. We have another, well you know Lori Reddy, she's on all the time. She has a lady that, she's a delivery driver, has been a volunteer delivery driver for us for a long time. And she has one woman that just loves to talk because she's alone, she lives alone. And so she always plans her day so that that's her last stop. So when she's there she can stop and talk to her for a little while and try to make just a little bit of a connection and give her some, just some companionship. You know Lori is, she's a chatterbox. She's a kick. Yeah, she really is a kick. I mean she has just a warmth about her and she's so engaging because she loves to talk and visit. Yes. So that is just a wonderful thing to do. It's almost like when I start shows when it's hot weather, if you could check on your neighbors and stuff. Or that's a welfare check type of thing, make sure they have a fan at the very least or something like that when it's hot weather. But I do worry about people like that, that guy with the, turning electricity off. It's alarming that somebody who served our country has to live in those conditions. To me. But see, being a vet, he probably is a tough guy. Very. And you know, he just is disciplined, it's going to be this way and I'm going to make it work and my dog's here to keep me warm and whatever. He's more concerned about taking good care of his dog than he is himself. And he allowed us to take a really beautiful photo of him. And that's actually going to be shared in our fall mailer that everybody is going to be receiving soon. All right, do people automatically get a mailer or do they need to sign up for the mailer? No, it goes out to every address through bulk mail. So they should receive it. If they don't, please give us a call. It will be hitting mailboxes probably the first week in November. And if you don't receive it or don't see it, please let us know. I know I don't always get it at my house, but it does. It does get out there and we want people to know because there's some really great stories in there. It talks about our impact in this community. We're really proud of the work we're doing and we want to make sure that we're going to be there and strong for the next 40 years. How have the distributions gone because you're still at the church, right? Correct, yes. So we're at the Seventh-day Adventist Church off of Highway 174 and Osborne Hill Road. And they're growing. We had 100 more households this last time than we did from before. We did see a little bit of a dip over this August-September. We saw a little decrease, but they're right back up as soon as gas prices go up, as soon as people have to turn on either their air conditioner or it looks like thankfully we'll be down 20 degrees by this weekend into real fall weather, but as soon as the weather shifts and people have to start turning on electric heaters, start using more utilities, we see an increase of people who come through our line. I appreciate all you ladies do and your entire staff. Your staff is small, by the way. Right now we're at seven. The small but mighty team, and that's why we rely so heavily on volunteers who also make it great. We had a really wonderful volunteer appreciation party last week where we recognized them. It was just a really beautiful evening. It was fun to listen to them chatter and to hear them get to know each other outside of a distribution. It's fun to watch them at distributions and to see the impact and to see somebody show up for the first time or second time and see it cross their face. You can tell the moment you see that they're impacting people and they're making a difference. They want to come back. They get pulled in. We have one volunteer, Mike, who pulls more and more people in because he's like, you've got to see this. You've got to understand what we're doing here. It's incredible. It's incredible. Again, it's one of those few months where our visit is after you just had your Thursday, first Thursday. Yes, this is true. We had it last week. Not always. Sometimes it's right before, but this was not it. If people want to check in and check it out, without that Thursday visit, can they do it at any time? Please give us a call. Yes, absolutely. We want people to understand who we are and what we're doing in the community. It's really important that people know more about Food Bank of Nevada County. Always can call me, reach out. I will be happy to arrange a tour for anybody outside of that time. All right, mom. You've done very well not thinking of your daughter during this because I know she's a big helper. Your little one, do you have Halloween costumes picked out for your one? How many kids do you have? I have two. You have two? Halloween costumes picked out? We have an Iron Man that he's been sleeping with every night, so I think that might be the one. All right. We'll see. How about the other one? He's nine months old, so I don't know. Maybe he'll be a pumpkin. Yeah, maybe he'll be a pumpkin. He's boss baby. He's the boss baby. He is the boss. Yeah, it takes after mom. I know what I mean. Get those things done. All right, Daphne, Brett, thank you so much for coming on in. Thank you. Thank you. Again, Food Bank of Nevada County. Get involved, and don't forget to check me out on Facebook. All right? That does it for me. --- end of transcript ---