More than 20 local artists are donating their work to be auctioned off next month at Melissa Morgan Fine Art, where the fourth annual Art of Giving fundraiser will try to raise money for families across the Coachella Valley who are struggling to put food on the table. The event, set for November 13, features catering from Porta Via and evening entertainment, with proceeds benefiting Food Now, the Desert Hot Springs-based pantry that has fed western valley families since 1959.
The gallery promoting the event sits at 73660 El Paseo Drive — technically in Palm Desert, not Palm Springs, despite how the fundraiser is often marketed, according to Melissa Morgan Fine Art's own contact listing. As reported by NBC Palm Springs, the gallery has partnered with Food Now throughout the fundraiser's four-year run, and this year's auction arrives as the nonprofit says demand for its services keeps climbing.
Food Now Executive Director Tom Trageser called the gala the organization's largest fundraising event of the year, per the same NBC Palm Springs report. The pantry distributes more than one million pounds of food annually and serves over 650 families each week at its distribution center, the station's report notes. Trageser said demand has increased as some families face changes affecting their access to food assistance and other support.
A Regional Hunger Crisis Behind the Numbers
The timing lines up with grim regional data. The 2025 Coachella Valley Community Health Survey, released in February, found food insecurity has reached its highest level in more than a decade, with 25.2 percent of local adults — one in four — reporting they cut the size of meals or skipped meals due to lack of money, up from just 9.7 percent a decade earlier, according to The Palm Springs Post. Feeding America's 2025 Map the Meal Gap study separately found that more than 15 percent of Coachella Valley residents — roughly one in six people — face food insecurity, exceeding the national average of one in seven, according to FIND Food Bank, the regional distributor that supplies more than 120 pantries across the valley.
Food Now's work extends well beyond its weekly distribution line. The nonprofit partners with 10 local schools to provide meal kits for children who may not have enough to eat at home, and it also helps feed pets belonging to the families it serves. Trageser said many households seeking assistance have pets, making pet food an important part of the organization's efforts, per NBC Palm Springs. Under a municipal agreement with the City of Desert Hot Springs, Food Now has the capacity to provide up to 250 ready-to-eat weekly meals for unhoused individuals as part of the city's SWAG outreach initiative when requested, according to Family Services of the Desert.
Art With a Backstory, and a Case for Giving
Participating artists say the event lets them share their work while supporting a community cause. One artist described a painting titled “The Flow,” inspired by the water feature at La Quinta Resort, as a reflection of movement, light and the idea of going with the flow of life.
For donors weighing whether to bid or give directly, Food Now works to provide food to low-income households. The organization also recently received a $25,000 Impact Grant from News Channel 3 and the H.N. and Francis E. Berger Foundation to support its regional hunger relief work, and it sits within a broader valley giving ecosystem that includes CV Giving Day, which has raised more than $1 million for regional nonprofits since 2023.
How to Attend or Donate
Tickets for the November 13 event are available through Food Now's website, and organizers are encouraging community members who can't attend to donate directly to sustain the organization's work. Those looking for ongoing assistance can find Food Now's weekly contactless drive-through distributions every Wednesday and Thursday morning from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at 14080 Palm Drive in Desert Hot Springs, with new clients required to register in person and provide proof of residence, information about household dependents, and proof of income if any.
The Art of Giving fundraiser follows other recent valley efforts aimed at the same crisis, including an upcoming house party fundraiser scheduled for October 24, 2026, ahead of Pride, and the return of the Scoop Palm Springs Ice Cream Festival, both aimed at keeping attention on a hunger problem that local health data suggests is only getting worse.
