Chris DeVan Last month FOOD Share, Ventura County's regional food bank, named Chris DeVan, 27, its director of food sourcing and purchasing, putting him in charge of finding new sources of food, especially protein.

With DeVan in place, the Oxnard-based nonprofit will, for the first time, have a full-time person to secure new food sources, build relationships with the community and educate the public about FOOD Share.

"It's important to have a designated person—we're excited," said Bonnie Weigel, FOOD Share's chief executive since founder Jewel Pedi retired in December. "He's kind of our ambassador."

FOOD Share distributes food for little or no cost to more than 150 agencies that feed the hungry in communities throughout the county. FOOD Share feeds 40,000 people a month through its programs and through the agencies that depend on it for food.

DeVan said that one in six people in Ventura County are hungry.

"That's not good. I mean, it's ridiculous, really, and that has to be fixed," he said. "I know we can't exactly feed everybody, but our goal is to get as many as possible fed with help from the community and businesses in the community."

Every year, FOOD Share receives about 10 million pounds of food. DeVan said his job is to increase that figure to 40 million.

DeVan, who grew up on a Somis cattle ranch and graduated from culinary school in Hollywood, seems suited for the challenge. He worked briefly as a chef for a company that does catering for the movie industry but left last year during the writers' strike.

He then began cultivating a following at a grilled tri-tip booth he set up at the Farmers Market in Moorpark. Needing a more secure income, he applied for the new position at FOOD Share after a friend told him about it.

"What better way to put everything together," DeVan said.

He was hired in May.

DeVan will concentrate on acquiring new sources of protein, a food group always in high demand but short supply. Essential to a healthy diet, protein is so difficult to come by that some agencies have never received it from FOOD Share, DeVan said.

To remedy that, DeVan plans to form and nurture partnerships with businesses that will result in more food for FOOD Share. Through his family's cattle farm, for example, he's made contacts in the Cattleman's Association and wants to work out an arrangement with that organization.

About the time DeVan came on board at FOOD Share, Ralphs grocery stores launched a program in California to donate frozen meat to food banks. Having donated canned goods and other items for years, Ralphs had worked out an arrangement with FOOD Share and other food banks to safely transfer meat and other perishable proteins. Eleven Ralphs stores in Ventura County will freeze meat and deli items that are still on the shelf on the sell-by date and hold them each week for FOOD Share.

The program has proved successful in other parts of the country, said Kendra Doyel, Ralphs spokesperson.

Ralphs has given several thousand pounds of meat to FOOD Share. The grocery chain has also donated $15,000 to the nonprofit through a campaign based on recent sales.

"The big picture is we really are committed to food banks," Doyel said. "We're certainly looking for a way to give back and ways for our community to support that group as well."

DeVan said he wants every grocery store in Ventura County, independent or chain, to donate their protein items to FOOD Share rather than toss them out.