Best Ag Nonprofit
Food Bank for Monterey County
353 W. Rossi St., Salinas
(831) 758-1523, foodbankformontereycounty.org
The very first of the big tents to go up when the Greatest Show on Earth arrived by train to a new city was the cookhouse tent. More than 100 people worked inside to feed the enormous number of performers and workers. Melissa Kendrick, CEO and executive director of the Food Bank for Monterey County, and her team have their own big crowd to feed – they provide food to one in three residents of the county. The reason Kendrick believes readers chose the Food Bank as the best ag nonprofit is due to its reach, the 5,000 weekly volunteers and the many donors who make it all possible. “At the end of the day, we’re in this ecosystem of amazing people doing amazing work with amazing gratitude,” she says.