Food Now in the News

KESQ TV Interview Tom Tragesser on $25K Impact Grant

April 15, 2026: News Channel 3, together with the HN and Francis E. Berger Foundation, just presented another Impact Grant to improve lives and help those in need.

A $25,000 charitable gift was just awarded to Food Now to help those in our community with food insecurity.

KESQ News Channel 3’s Peter Daut spoke in depth about it with the organization’s executive director, Tom Tragesser.

KESQ TV Features Food Now DHS Fundraiser on Eye of the Desert

Watch Board Member Emily Vogt and Executive Director Tom Tragesser answer questions about Food Now DHS and our upcoming fundraiser “Puttin’ Food on the Table”

- Putting Tournament on an 18-hole putting course
- April 11, 2026
- Starting time 4pm or 6pm shotgun line up
- Adults $50
- Kids 12 and under $20
- All-you-eat hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, and soda
- Cash bar

Palm Springs Life: Hunger Is on the Rise in the Coachella Valley

November 25, 2025

Food Now has been providing supplemental food assistance to families in the Desert Hot Springs area since 1959. This November, more than 800 men, women, and children have been lining up each week at the 66-year-old food pantry, an all-time-record that’s also up nearly 70 percent from last year at this time, according to Tom Tragesser, Food Now’s vice president and director of operations.

“The numbers of people who are suffering from food insecurity are growing,” Tragesser says.

KMIR TV: Food Now Working Overtime to Meet a Growing Need in the Western Coachella Valley

November 13, 2025

Food Now has become one of the largest food pantries serving the Western Coachella Valley — and right now, its team is working overtime to meet a rapidly growing demand.

Our team visited their Desert Hot Springs facility to see firsthand how they’re doing it and the challenges they’re facing along the way.

Click the image to watch the news segment on the NBC Palm Springs website.

Desert Sun: Don't miss Food Now's The Art of Giving fundraiser in Palm Desert

October 24, 2025

The Art of Giving will offer collectors the opportunity to acquire exceptional artworks donated by celebrated contemporary artists. All proceeds from the auction will directly benefit Food Now’s food distribution and nutrition programs that serve thousands of individuals and families in need throughout Desert Hot Springs and the surrounding region.

Desert Sun: Food Now named nonprofit of the year by Coachella Valley chamber

June 27, 2025

The Greater Coachella Valley Chamber of Commerce held its 2025 annual installation and business awards dinner event June 10 at the Renaissance Esmeralda Resort & Spa, Indian Wells. More than 300 people were in attendance to see the best of the best receive accolades for their unwavering support in community projects.

And chosen for Nonprofit of the Year, out of more than 800 local charities, was Food Now, an organization that has been providing food assistance, community outreach and family support services since 1959.

KESQ TV: Food bank in Desert Hot Springs reassures community amid concern over potential funding cuts

February 19, 2025

Some food banks in the Coachella Valley, like Food Now in Desert Hot Springs, are starting to prepare for cuts to federal agencies that help supply them with food for distribution.

Click on the image to see the news segment on the KESQ website.

Desert Sun: ‘Larger than life’: Beloved Desert Hot Springs volunteer Marge Dennis passes at 87

October 25, 2024

Marjorie “Marge” Dennis, a much-loved volunteer in Desert Hot Springs who spent years helping feed the hungry through the charity Food Now, died recently at 87. Those who knew her say she’ll be remembered for dedicating her life to helping others.

She was the program director at Food Now, a nonprofit organization that provides food assistance in eastern Riverside County. Dana Johnson, Food Now’s executive director, said it provides food to 350 households a week and every one of them adored Dennis.

“She would listen to them. She would pray with them,” Johnson said. “She would laugh with them. She would cry with them. She was like the mother or the matriarch of the community.”

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