Rudy Valencia is the new operations manager for Second Harvest Food Bank.
He replaces Paul Rodrigues who was promoted to chief executive officer of the non-profit based in Manteca that distributes groceries to roughly 100 food banks in the Northern San Joaquin Valley and nearby foothills. Rodrigues replaced Mike Mallory who retired three months ago.
Valencia hails from the Manteca area and said he is thrilled with his new position at the facility that helps feed over 35,000 individuals each month. He was part of the first graduating class of Sierra High School in 1997.
Valencia in his new position will work with the corporate donors. It includes maintaining the fleet of delivery vehicles and working with the grocery donors such as Safeway and Save Mart as well as with the corporate donors such as General Mills, Amazon, Kraft, and Walmart.
He started on Aug. 21. It was just in time to see the food bank’s second warehouse open and go into operation adjacent to the original site on Industrial Park Drive. Having two warehouses will allow Second Harvest to nearly triple storage capacity.
In May of 1995 the Manteca based Food Bank joined a national coalition of food banks, known then as America’s Second Harvest – now known as Feeding America.  Joining with the national coalition provided the opportunity to receive donations on a large corporate level opening the door for growth and expansion. 
In 2001 San Joaquin Food Bank merged with the Modesto-Riverbank-Stanislaus County Food Bank to form Second Harvest Food Bank of San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties.  The merging of the two entities allowed for more effective and increased distribution of foods to those in need in seven counties including San Joaquin, Stanislaus and the Mother Lode. 

To contact Glenn Kahl, email gkahl@mantecabulletin.com.