Since last year, Together We Thrive Food Bank has held two free food drives twice a week: one in Canoga Park and the other in Pasadena following the devastating Eaton Fire. But seeing the ever-growing need within the San Fernando Valley for more organic, fresh produce, the food bank began looking for a third location.
Eventually, they were recommended to reach out to the Latin American Church of the Nazarene in the City of San Fernando. After talking to the local pastor and seeing the need within the community, the food bank was set up at the church last October and has been there almost every Wednesday since then.
“We only took off for Christmas and for New Year’s Day, but other than that, we’re always here every week, come rain or shine, with our amazing volunteers,” said volunteer Annegret Steioff. “It’s grown quite a bit. We started with 100 people [getting food], and now we’re almost at 300 every week.”
The small group of volunteers arrived with hundreds of pounds of fruits and vegetables, 90% of which were organic, including potatoes, onions, oranges, garlic, broccoli, carrots and zucchini. The produce was sourced from Tutti Frutti Farms, a family-owned business in Lompoc, in Santa Barbara County. They also accept donations from community members who are willing to provide organic foodstuffs.
It’s been more than half a year since the food bank has been serving the local community, and Steioff said that the response has been extremely welcoming. They’ve received positive word of mouth from those they serve, who in turn bring their friends and family the following week.
The City of San Fernando has been spreading the message. Steioff said that the city made a post advertising their weekly food drive, and the next week, they saw an additional 100 people come out.
As more and more people learn about the food drive, the more produce the food bank needs to bring in each week to meet the demand. At one of their recent drives, nearly all the food was distributed within an hour. Aside from a handful of people who came later in the day, just about everybody who waited in line walked away with a bag of food.
Giving community members the option to get organic produce is extremely important, Steioff said, describing how the food bank’s founder, Lindsay Chambers, would volunteer at other food drives and noticed that most of the items they gave away were canned food. While certainly not a bad thing, she elaborated that it’s very challenging for food banks to keep organic produce fresh because they lack refrigeration.
“For me, I think it’s incredibly important that we give people choices because this is the first thing that goes missing when you are in a certain tax bracket,” Steioff said. “Choices are being taken away from you. So we’re here giving people choices again, because choice equals dignity, and that’s really important to me.”
The food drive is held every Wednesday at the church, located at 1002 Mott St., starting at 4:30 p.m. and lasting until 6:30 p.m. or until supplies last. And no registration is required.
“We don’t ask for a driver’s license, you don’t need to identify [yourself], you don’t have to say you live here – everybody needs to eat, no questions asked,” Steioff said. “People who are food insecure know that they are food insecure, so … you don’t have to answer any questions.”
For more information on Together We Thrive Food Bank, go to https://togetherwethrive.charity/food-bank/.
If you grow your own produce and you would like to donate, contact info@thrive.charity.