Our third year is marked by growth and numerous fundraisers (various drives). All highly exceeded our expectations. We successfully used Social Media tools and set up a go-fund-me page. We expanded our outreach areas to include underprivileged high school students plus support for foster parents and their children. We continue our weekly Mini Community Pantry providing fresh fruit, produce, bread, and canned food as well as items of occasional donations from Trader Joe’s.
FUNDRAISING (Every fundraiser exceeded our expectations by a lot)
- Gofundme Relief & Blanket Drive ($2,590 raised)
- Giving Tuesday ($2,570 raised)
- Care Package Drive (50 summer care packages containing sunscreen, lip balm, baseball hats, treats, and McDonald’s gift cards).
- Hot Dog Fiesta (served hotdogs, potato salad, chips, and drinks to the unhoused)
- Dinner for Firefighters ($250 Buca di Beppo gift card)
- Winter Blanket Drive ($266 raised)
- Winter Gloves Drive (50 brand-new high-tech gloves)
- Cashing in Coins ($350 Amazon voucher)
- Gift Card Drive (Hundreds of gift cards to McDonalds, Starbucks, VONS, Ross, Target, Jamba Juice, Walmart and Amazon)
- Make a Wish Come True Drive (holiday gifts for underprivileged students)
- BE a light campaign (toys, clothes, and diapers for foster kids & families)
- Hospice Drive (Supplied hospice supplies like a walker, shower chair, toilet chair, depends, disposable bed mats, medical gowns, blood pressure machine, stethoscope, and a medical pen)
Areas Served:
- Reached 6727 People on Facebook to bring awareness
- The Unhoused in North Hills and Ventura County
– Several clothing distribution to local over-night shelters
– Care package distributions
– Encouragement through creating and coloring cards
– Several fiesta-style lunches at local parks
– 30 weekly sack lunches
– Ongoing clothing collections for men and women living on the street
– Special home-baked cupcake treats - Unhoused Women in Los Angeles: 30 large trashbags containing sorted clothes and shoes for the Downtown Women’s Center
- Animals: Shelter of Hope. Supplied food and paper towels for temporary relief due to the Hills Fire)
- Underprivileged Students
– Personal wishes of needed items fulfilled
– Supplying gift bags (treats and school supplies),
– Popcorn & movie distributions
- Foster Kids (ongoing supply of kids’ clothing, toys, cribs, etc.)
What food insecurity looks like even in affluent neighborhoods… people standing in line for over 1 hour to receive one piece of bread and a handful of fruit, a few potatoes, or a vegetable. We received the leftovers, which we cleaned thoroughly. This is how our Mini Community Pantry started and then it just grew from there.
