One of San Joaquin County’s longest-serving nonprofit organizations has a fresh new digital home, built right here in Stockton.
The Emergency Food Bank Stockton / San Joaquin officially launched a completely redesigned website at StocktonFoodBank.org, developed by Stockton-based MAYACO Marketing & Internet.
The new website went live Thursday, September 3, giving the Food Bank a modern, community-focused online presence designed to make it easier for residents to find food assistance, volunteer, donate and learn about the growing number of programs the organization provides throughout San Joaquin County.
But the new site is about more than a fresh design. It is intended to become another tool in the Food Bank’s ongoing mission to fight hunger, improve nutrition and connect people who want to help with neighbors who need it.
Designed Around the People Who Need It
One of the most noticeable changes begins right on the homepage.
Instead of expecting visitors to know where to look, the new site asks a simple question: “How can we help you today?”
Visitors can immediately choose the path that best describes them: someone who needs food, wants to volunteer, would like to donate, is a healthcare provider or represents a community organization.
It is a seemingly simple approach, but an important one for an organization serving people with very different needs.
The redesigned site also makes critical information such as pantry services, hours, locations and assistance programs easier to reach, particularly for residents who may be visiting the Food Bank website during an immediate time of need.
More Than a Food Pantry
The new website also tells a much broader story about what the Emergency Food Bank has become during its nearly six decades of service to the community.
Founded in 1968, the organization today provides far more than emergency groceries. Its programs include its main Food Pantry, Mobile Farmers Market, Food as Medicine initiatives, nutrition education, Building Better Habits, Golden Hearts Delivery, community pantry partnerships and other services reaching residents throughout San Joaquin County.
The website places greater emphasis on those programs and gives visitors an opportunity to explore how food, nutrition and health increasingly intersect in the Food Bank’s mission.
A major example is Food as Medicine, which combines access to healthy foods with nutrition education and other resources designed to improve health and help address diet-related chronic conditions.
The site also makes it easier for residents to find food resources throughout the community and for volunteers, businesses and organizations to discover ways they can become involved.
A Website Designed to Turn Awareness Into Action
Perhaps one of the most important roles of the new website is helping transform community awareness into community action.
Throughout the site, visitors are encouraged not only to learn about hunger in San Joaquin County, but to become part of the solution.
That can mean volunteering at the Food Bank, organizing a food drive, becoming a community partner or making a financial contribution.
And even a relatively modest donation can have a meaningful impact.
According to the Emergency Food Bank, a $25 donation can help provide a family of four with three meals a day for one week. A $50 gift can help provide those meals for two weeks, while $100 can help provide them for three weeks.
Those numbers put into perspective what a donation can mean for a local family experiencing food insecurity.
For Caravan News readers who would like to celebrate the launch of the new website by helping a neighbor, there may be no better way than putting a meal on someone’s table.
Donate directly to the Emergency Food Bank Stockton / San Joaquin
Donations can also be made through the new website, including options for one-time gifts, monthly giving and other forms of charitable support.
32 Years of Stockton Experience Behind the New Website
The new website was designed and developed locally by MAYACO Marketing & Internet, a Stockton company that is marking 32 years in business.
Established in 1994, MAYACO has spent more than three decades helping businesses, nonprofits, medical organizations, public agencies, associations and community organizations navigate an online world that has changed dramatically since the company first opened its doors.
MAYACO began at a time when simply having a presence on the Internet was still a new idea. Over the ensuing 32 years, the Stockton company has worked through the rise of search engines, mobile devices, social media, responsive web design, accessibility standards, online analytics and, most recently, artificial intelligence.
That experience helped shape the approach to the Emergency Food Bank project.
Rather than simply giving the organization a new look, the goal was to build a website around what people actually come to the Food Bank to accomplish: find help, give help, volunteer, donate and connect with community resources.
For MAYACO, the project also provided an opportunity to put three decades of technology and marketing experience to work for an organization serving the same community the company has called home throughout its history.
Local Organizations Working for a Stronger Community
There is something particularly fitting about a longtime Stockton company helping a longtime Stockton nonprofit prepare for its next chapter.
The Emergency Food Bank has been serving the San Joaquin County community since 1968. MAYACO has been serving organizations from Stockton for 32 years.
Their histories are very different, but this project brings them together around a common idea: using local resources, experience and relationships to make the community stronger.
For someone looking for food assistance, the new website can mean finding the right information faster. For a healthcare provider, it can mean connecting a patient with nutrition resources. For a volunteer, it can mean discovering a place where an extra pair of hands is needed.
And for the rest of us, it offers something equally important: an opportunity to help.
Visit the New Website, Then Help Fill a Table
The launch of a new website is normally measured in design, technology, speed and functionality.
For the Emergency Food Bank, there is another measure that matters much more: how many people it ultimately helps.
Every volunteer who signs up, every food drive that gets started, every new community partnership and every donation inspired by the website extends its impact beyond a computer or smartphone screen.
So take a few minutes to explore the new Emergency Food Bank Stockton / San Joaquin website at StocktonFoodBank.org.
And while you are there, consider doing something that requires only a few more clicks but can mean considerably more to someone else.
Make a donation to the Emergency Food Bank and help put food on a San Joaquin County family’s table.
Sometimes launching a new website is about reaching more people.
This one is also about feeding them.