Concord chamber teams up with businesses for food bank drive

CONCORD, CA (Nov. 17, 2021) — The season of giving is here, and the Concord Chamber is partnering with the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano again this year to host a community-wide food drive.

In 2020, a record number of people turned to the Food Bank for help, and they provided food for 100,000 more people every month.

Pre-pandemic, the chamber hosted mixers at the Food Bank in November, bringing members to help sort food for distribution through the holidays. Eventually, we turned the mixer into a competition of who can sort the most food: the young professionals vs. the seasoned professionals. Both years of the competition, the seasoned professionals won by a landslide.

Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, the chamber put a pause on bringing members together to sort food to ensure the safety of all. This did not stop the chamber from shifting how members can still give back.

Food barrels

In 2020, the chamber partnered with seven local businesses to host food collection barrels on behalf of the Food Bank. Each business provided a full barrel of food, thanks to their customers and networks. Lexus of Concord took their donation a step further and provided a $1,000 check to the Food Bank.

Considering the success of the program last year, the chamber decided to expand its efforts – with more than 40 businesses now hosting 50 barrels. If each barrel is filled at least once, we estimate it to be a donation of at least 10,000 pounds of food.

We hope to pull the community together and gather as many donations as possible this season. For a complete list of barrel locations, visit concordchamber.com/ food-barrel-locations.

If you are part of a business or organization and want to learn more about the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce, please call 925-685-1181, visit concordchamber.com or stop by the office at 2280 Diamond Blvd., Suite 200 in Concord.

Melissa Rea is Director of Operations & Marketing for the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce