We waste so much food in this country. Healthy, edible produce and other food is thrown away still wrapped or boxed up and the irony is that there are scores of families who go hungry.

"People need to know there's plenty of food. It's just accessing it and getting it to them," said Shari Rightmer, executive director of Laborers of The Harvest, which runs a fresh food distribution program based in Taft.

Contributing columnist Jose Gaspar is a news anchor/reporter for Telemundo Bakersfield and KGET. Email him at elcompa29@gmail.com. The views expressed here are his own.