Community Food Bank Serving Folsom, ElDorado Hills & Granite Bay

Story

Community Loaves

It started with an email early this spring, an invitation that felt like it carried something more than just a partnership. It carried possibility.

That invitation came from Community Loaves, a growing network of volunteer bakers dedicated to something beautifully simple — turning flour, honey, and time into nourishment for neighbors facing food insecurity. Right away, we knew this organization aligned with our heart at Twin Lakes Food Bank to provide nutritious food that brings dignity, comfort, and care.

Through this partnership, volunteer bakers in our region will gather for an information session, learn Community Loaves’ proven bread formulas, and begin baking honey oat sandwich loaves and protein bars right from their own kitchens. Twice a month, these loaves will be carefully packaged, transported to local neighborhood hubs, and then delivered to our food bank for distribution to guests.

These local “hubs” become the quiet engine behind the effort. Hub coordinators support bakers, track donations, coordinate volunteers, and ensure every loaf makes it safely to the food bank on time. It is community made tangible, neighbors helping neighbors.

What makes this even more powerful is its simplicity and inclusiveness. Bakers of every level are welcome, from first-time volunteers to seasoned sourdough enthusiasts. Those who don’t bake can still serve by coordinating hubs, helping with logistics, or offering technical and administrative support.

It’s nourishment multiplied with fresh, whole grain loaves designed to be both familiar and nutrient-dense, shared in a rhythm of generosity that happens twice each month. For our guests, it means consistent access to wholesome, freshly baked food made with care by their own community.

Love & Kindness Take Root

In January, Twin Lakes Food Bank welcomed registered guests to a garden workshop led by Garden Coordinator, Michelle Kwek, designed to be fun, inspiring, and focused on practical gardening knowledge for any size space. Guests learned about building healthy soil, starting a vegetable or herb garden at home, the benefits of home gardening, while enjoying live demonstrations, a guided garden tour, and time for questions and conversation.

Among the guests was Faith, a young single mother of two boys. Faith’s journey has not been easy. Her life has been marked by repeated abuse from multiple sources—experiences that no one should have to endure. Yet, day by day, she has been courageously working to pick herself up, provide for her sons, and create a safer, more hopeful future for her family. She arrived at the workshop not just to learn, but to breathe, to connect, and to find a moment of peace.

As Michelle shared her gardening knowledge, guiding guests through essential practices and answering thoughtful questions, something else unfolded alongside the learning. Michelle had “cultivated a beautiful environment for all of us woman and children to enjoy the sunshine and the birds chirping.” The garden itself felt intentional—welcoming, calm, and generous.

Fresh-baked bread, sweet oranges picked straight from the garden, and warm coffee invited conversation. Faith’s boys delighted in the experience at ease in a space designed with care. While Michelle shared practical tools for growing food, it was the unexpected details, the kindness, the hospitality, the  unhurried presence—that made Faith feel truly seen.

For someone who has spent much of her life in survival mode, being seen in this way mattered deeply. In the same way a garden thrives when tended with patience and care, healing can take root when people are met with dignity and compassion.

When Faith left the workshop with her boys, she carried more than new knowledge about gardening. She left feeling empowered and refreshed, lighter than when she arrived. She felt encouraged not only in her ability to grow fresh produce, but in her ability to continue building a better future for her children—one step, one season at a time.

Growth comes in many forms—and sometimes, the most meaningful seeds are planted through kindness, presence, and grace.

We will be closed for grocery services on the following days:

Friday, July 3

(in observance of Independence Day)

Friday, July 31

(Twin Lakes Food Bank Event)