Food commodity distributions will resume in Southeast Inyo County on Jan. 15, restoring a critical source of supplemental groceries for residents in Shoshone, Tecopa, and Charleston View after federal funding cutbacks forced Inyo-Mono Community Advocates for Community Action (IMACA) to suspend deliveries to some of the county’s most remote communities.
For Tecopa residents—and for neighbors in Shoshone and Charleston View who have long relied on the same distribution network—the return date marks the reopening of a service many households depend on to avoid long, costly trips for basic food supplies.
The resumption follows weeks of public concern voiced at a late-October town hall in Tecopa, where residents described how the loss of deliveries disproportionately affected geographically isolated communities, particularly seniors, households on fixed incomes, and residents with limited transportation. At that meeting, community members and organizers discussed interim solutions such as shared pickup networks and local storage, while IMACA emphasized that sustaining rural routes depends on workable logistics and stable funding.
Those logistical constraints were laid bare during the town hall. IMACA officials said each delivery run from Bishop to Tecopa costs roughly $4,000 and, at the time, could be made only with a single operational van. Two additional vans that once supported the route had been towed to Bakersfield, each requiring an estimated $12,000 in repairs before they could return to service.
In a Dec. 16, 2025 press release, Inyo County Second District Supervisor Jeff Griffiths said Edison International’s $20,000 grant was awarded through the Eastern Sierra Foundation, which is distributing funds to local food providers including IMACA, St. Vincent de Paul, Eastside Student Center, United Methodist Social Services Soup Kitchen, and Owens Valley Growers, which supports food banking in Independence and Lone Pine.
Griffiths said the IMACA portion of the funding is intended to directly address the Southeast Inyo service gap raised publicly at the October meeting. “The latter donation,” Griffiths said, “will enable IMACA to resume food commodity distributions to Southeast Inyo communities like Shoshone, Tecopa, and Charleston View. Hit hard by federal funding cutbacks, IMACA had been forced to cancel distributions to far-flung communities in both Inyo and Mono counties – much to its own dismay and that of residents.”
“I cannot express my gratitude enough to both Edison International and the Eastern Sierra Foundation for collaborating with these groups to help ensure nobody goes hungry this winter,” Griffiths added. “The recipient organizations also ought to be commended for their tireless efforts to assist our community members in need.”
While the grant provides a reprieve from recent cuts, the longer-term funding required to sustain food services in Southeast Inyo County remains unclear.
The county’s press release also notes that Griffiths serves as treasurer on the Eastern Sierra Foundation’s all-volunteer board, connecting him institutionally to the organization administering the funds. The foundation’s stated mission is “Enhancing Community through Education.”
Edison International—the parent company of Southern California Edison—is an energy holding company headquartered in Rosemead, California, with a philanthropic arm that funds community initiatives throughout its service region. Its charitable giving typically focuses on emergency response, education, environmental stewardship, and efforts to strengthen resilience in underserved or geographically isolated communities.
Supervisor Will Wadelton, whose District 5 includes Southeast Inyo, described the impact of the earlier cancellation on local residents. “The loss of IMACA’s commodities distributions was devastating to the residents of Shoshone, Tecopa, and Charleston View, a great percentage of whom are on very fixed incomes,” he said. “I can’t thank Edison International, Eastern Sierra Foundation, and IMACA enough for coming together to address this very real and very serious crisis.”
As deliveries resume, Wadelton emphasized the broader stakes for the region’s most remote communities: “I’m very grateful we were able to assist IMACA on returning food bank services to the far corner of Inyo County.”
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