A fresh idea – fresh food for the poor

Patrick McClain received the Community Service Award for decades of service with the Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services organization, which provides emergency goods and services to 45,000 people a month.

Mr. McClain, chief executive and founding principal of Hanson McClain Advisors in Sacramento, Calif., joined the charity’s board in 1999 and has served as its chairman for the past five years. During his board tenure, the SFBFS has added an education and technology center, where adults gain skills training and kids enjoy tech-based programs after school. There also is a demonstration garden that offers workshops on growing and eating healthy foods.

“I’ve gotten so much more out of working with them than I’ve ever given,” Mr. McClain said in his acceptance speech in New York last month.

In 2008, the charity started a mobile food bank program that’s gained national attention, including a spot on NBC’s “Today” show last year.

The organization sets up what looks like a farmer’s market, except that the fresh fruits, vegetables and bread products are all free for Sacramento’s poor residents. The program is seen as a healthier alternative to typical distribution centers that hand out foods full of carbohydrates and day-old products donated by retailers. It’s also more respectful, allowing residents to line up and “shop” for what they need. 

It is this mobile food program that Mr. McClain said he’d like to expand with the $20,000 charitable gift that comes with the award from the Invest in Others Charitable Foundation.

Mr. McClain, who also co-hosts a weekly call-in talk radio show on investing called “Money Matters,” actually began volunteering with SFBFS back in 1985. Now he leads 15 board members, 45 staffers and 5,800 volunteers.

The charity also is well known in the community for sponsoring an annual Thanksgiving run. In its 20th year, it attracted nearly 30,000 runners last year, making it the largest Thanksgiving Day fun run in the country.

Mr. McClain, his wife Kathy and their four children live in El Dorado Hills, Calif.