FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — Every morning at the Poverello House in downtown Fresno, donated pallets of food like this one are brought into their warehouse and sorted by type and shelf life.

Some with items like red bell peppers, lemons, and more.

“With our staff and volunteers, we are taking those items and deciding what items can be used in our kitchen and what items can be re-donated to community members,” says Poverello House Director of Culinary Services Rafael Vasquez.

Vasquez says the non-profit would usually purchase about 90% of the food used for the meals provided at Papa Mike’s Cafe.

But now, upcycling donated pallets is what they have to work with.

In years past, federal funding was a significant portion of their budget, but that money is no longer coming in.

” With our finances and budget being cut by almost 50% of what we had before, we have to live on a day-by-day basis, so if we have a donation of an item that we can substitute out instead of purchasing, we are going to go ahead and do so,” he says.

Vasquez says being resourceful and creative with what’s in front of them is how they’ve been able to continue providing about 3,000 meals a day.

In the kitchen, Chef Ashely McPherson says adjusting can be challenging, “What we thought we would utilize that day did not come in or something happened, so we pivot and see what the next best thing is and make it happen.”

Vasquez says while changes to their day-to-day food selection process have helped, there’s fear that it won’t be enough in the long run and are turning to the community for support,”Upcycling is an absolute necessity for us, and there are times when it’s not enough, and that is where our community has to come in and hold us up in those times.”

The Poverello House always welcomes volunteers.

CEO Zach Darrah says there is also a concern that they’ll see more people in need walking through their doors in the coming year.

Some of their shelters are also set to close in the next few months because they’ve lost federal funding.

You can take action with us to raise money for the Poverello House by calling or texting “POV” to 559-319-1900.

Tune in throughout the day on Thursday on ABC30 for the “Call for Hope” telethon.

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