Sutter Health’s commitment to community health in the Northern San Joaquin Valley extends beyond its growing network of medical offices and hospitals.

It reaches as far as the kitchen tables of those struggling with food insecurity in the greater seven-county region.

Sutter Health is investing $2.5 million into the warehouse expansion of the Manteca-based Second Harvest of the Greater Valley over the course of three years.

Second Harvest serves as a distribution center to supply 86 food bank partners in San Joaquin, Stansilaus, and Merced counties as well as Amador, Calaveras, Tuolumne, and Mariposa counties.

Those partners receive 1.5 million pounds of food monthly to serve 45,833 individuals.

A ribbon cutting Thursday celebrated the completion of a 9,700 square-foot addition at Second Harvest’s Vanderbilt Circle complex in the Manteca Industrial Park.

“Good health care doesn’t start or end when you leave a (Sutter Health) medical office,” Amber Campbell, the CEO of Ambulatory Operations for Sutter Health’s Greater Central Valley, told the gathering.

Campbell stressed Sutter Health’s commitment to the whole person.

“Health is super important to us,” added Campbell, who also serves on the Second Harvest board.

Second Harvest CEO Jessica Vaughn praised the ongoing commitment Sutter Health has made to addressing food insecurity in the region.

That ranges from financial support of the Mobile Fresh program to Sutter Health team members from Sutter Medical Center, Sutter Gould Medical Foundation, and Sutter Tracy Community Hospital that volunteer at Second Harvest to assemble bags for food distribution.

The Mobile Fresh effort provides 30 to 40 pounds of fresh produce and assorted groceries to individuals, families, and seniors throughout San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties facing barriers to access.

“Health doesn’t start in the hospital or a doctor’s office,” Vaughn said. “It starts at the kitchen table.”

Vaughn also noted “buildings don’t change communities, but people do.”

The project was also made possible by an investment from the California Food Bank Capacity Program administered by the California Department of Social Services.

The new warehouse space will eventually include a 2,500 square-foot refrigeration box that will double Second Harvest’s ability to handle perishable food.

The new racking system will accommodate an additional 325 pallets of food or the equivalent of 13.5 truckloads based on 53-foot long trailers.

It will allow Second Harvest to expand its offerings to its 86 food bank partners as well as allow additional people to be served as needed.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com