Food Insecurity Rising in Placer, El Dorado, and Nevada Counties This Spring
Roseville, Calif.- April does something to people. The hills go green. Farmers markets come back. Gardens stir. And for a moment, even just a moment, the hard part feels like it's behind us.
I understand that feeling. But I've spent my life in this work, and I know spring is one of the most deceptive seasons in hunger relief.
Because just as things start to warm up, something else happens: school is nearly out. And for thousands of children across El Dorado, Placer and Nevada counties, that means the safety net that has fed them five days a week disappears overnight.
Kids who rely on free and reduced-price school meals, kids from families already stretched thin by rent, groceries, medical bills, and reduced federal benefits, suddenly face a season where that reliable source of nutrition is gone. Some families absorb it, but many can't. Summer hunger is real, it's local, and we start preparing for it now.
Feeding the Foothills
At Feeding the Foothills, April is a planning month. Our team is already thinking through increased demand at PantryToGo distributions and preparing for wildfire season and disaster response. Living in the foothills means our neighbors face the very real possibility of evacuation, displacement, and disruption to daily life. When a fire moves fast, food access becomes an immediate crisis. We make sure we're ready to move quickly, too.
This spring, that preparation is harder than in years past. Federal food assistance funding has faced cuts and uncertainty for the third consecutive year. CalFresh, the program that helps more than 55,000 residents across our three counties keep food on the table, continues to be squeezed. When those benefits shrink, families turn to us. And we turn to our community.
This community has shown up before. Through the government shutdown. Through USDA food shipment cancellations. Through inflation that made every dollar go a shorter distance. You helped us keep our warehouse stocked and our doors open when the pressure was heaviest.
Big Day of Giving is our chance to act together.
On May 7, 2026, Feeding the Foothills is participating in the Sacramento Region Community Foundation's Big Day of Giving, a 24-hour crowdfunding event that rallies our region around the causes that matter most. Every dollar raised goes directly to putting food on tables across Placer, El Dorado, and Nevada counties.
We serve more than 85,000 neighbors each month and provide more than 9 million meals a year, because this community has decided that access to food is not a luxury. It is a right. Spring won't fix hunger, but together we can meet it.
Mark your calendar for May 7 and visit bigdayofgiving.org/organization/Feedingthefoothills to give, share the link with someone who cares, and help us keep food moving to families who need it most this summer and beyond.
Hunger doesn't take the spring off. Neither do we.