Dan and Amanda Regan, owners of the Rancho Cordova Grocery Outlet, flank luncheon speaker Carrie Johnson, executive director, Rancho Cordova Food Locker. Photo by Margaret Snider

RANCHO CORDOVA, CA (MPG) - Carrie Johnson, executive director for the Rancho Cordova Food Locker, spoke at the Rancho Cordova Luncheon on Nov. 21.  She delivered a brief history of Rancho Cordova’s Food Locker. The name as of next year, Johnson said, will be the Food Hub. The simple and small Food Locker will have expanded into a no-cost grocery store.

“It’s so much bigger than anything that I ever dreamed of,” Johnson said. “It started at St. John Vianney Parish with a group of folks who really thought that there was a need in the community.” A couple of years ago, the City of Rancho Cordova requested a feasibility study and Johnson was consulted.

With the help of former State Assembly member Ken Cooley and the Department of Health and Human Services, a grant was awarded for $2.5 million for capital improvements to the Food Locker.  “With that money we bought property on Don Juan Drive,” Johnson said, “and this is the future home of what has been called the Rancho Cordova Food Locker.” 

Women’s group Impact 100 donated $100,000 to help.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints helped with a huge donation, Johnson said, to purchase the refrigeration unit. Catholic Charities has been supportive all along. “People stepped up in a huge way, and so did the community, with people walking in and handing us checks and boxes of food,” Johnson said. In 10 days, $83,000 was donated. “That helped us to keep going, and we are super excited the new Food Hub will open at the end of April, first part of next year. We’re that close.” 

Local company Tankersley Construction will be helping with the renovation at the site. “We were really fortunate to meet the Tankersleys . . .” Johnson said.  “When I met with them, one of things I had to say, and I had to be honest, was ‘I have some of the money for the project, but I don’t have all of the money.  So, if you’re willing to walk this journey with me, I’m going to find the money.’ They said yes.”

The construction on Don Juan has begun. The exterior has been redone, and the windows are in.  There will be a community room.  “We know the folks that we serve have other things going on in their lives. And we now will partner with other nonprofits in this community to bring them onto our campus to help support these families.”

Dan Regan, independent owner-operator of Rancho Cordova Grocery Outlet, said that he met Johnson about a year ago. Johnson asked if Regan’s store could sell her bags for the Food Locker.  “My wife and I talked and we sold them to her at cost,” Regan said.  “She was very thrilled, as it provided her with a substantial savings.”  He continues to let Johnson know when special savings are available so she can take advantage of them.

Atlas Disposal general manager Terrence McNamara said that Atlas provides free trash pickups for the Food Locker. “In addition to the free service,” McNamara said, “. . . We are sponsors of theirs; the work they do is very important and useful for the Rancho Cordova community.”

Walter Little, who helped found the Food Locker 35 years ago, said, “We have now someone in a leadership position who really thinks along those lines again. We’re going to have to get out of the way or we’re going to get run over by it.”