Valley Food Bank

Helping the Homeless

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After a challenging and rewarding year, we look forward

January 22, 2021 By joann

It is a privilege to be reaching out to you today as the Valley Food Bank director. While we navigated one of the most unpredictable and challenging years in our history I am so humbled to be surrounded by such a diverse and passionate organization. One with such a rich legacy of serving our community in need.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the health of our loved ones, the businesses and jobs we relied upon, and the way we live our daily lives. Hundreds of our neighbors faced new needs, like hunger, for the very first time in addition to the many that already relied on the food bank as part of their lives before the COVID-19 crisis. As we continue to navigate through the evolving challenges, we want all our neighbors to know that the Valley Food Bank is here for you!

I have served in this capacity for more than 16 years, and have been embedded behind the scenes helping guide the strategies to keep our ministry running. To date, we have collected and distributed pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables in unprecedented numbers. We have also implemented some unconventional strategies to ensure access to meals can continue in our neediest communities. This included pop-up pantries, delivery to seniors, and getting food resources to newly formed non-profits to help get them stocked to do business. We became a hub for USDA and Farmers to Families distribution of goods.

We developed and executed a seamless transition from a farmer’s market-style of pantry distributions to a no-contact, preselected food resources box into a trunk. To accommodate all the city regulations and safety of our volunteers, this method was implemented once the shutdown was announced. We are both grateful for and inspired by the untiring commitment so many volunteers demonstrated as well as our food bank staff. And we couldn’t have done any of it without our incredible network of supporters and friends and heroes like you.

Your continued partnership is needed now more than ever as we innovate with new solutions where existing ones no longer fit. We are in this together, making life better for folks that may still be struggling. I am excited to collaborate with community leaders, elected officials, civic organizations, places of worship and our supporters to launch new and exciting endeavors in 2021.

I also look forward to activating your new ideas to move our organization forward. Please send me a note, email or make a visit. Most of all, I cannot wait for all we will accomplish together for our neighbors who need us, now and beyond these present uncertainties.

Filed Under: News, Stories

Pastor reflects on life change, commitment to giving

January 22, 2021 By joann

My name is Christopher Anthony Trujillo and I am a pastor at Freedom Church in Chatsworth. I lead our Recovery Ministry as well as our Community Outreach Ministry. My testimony is one that I share gratefully because I know without Freedom Church, I wouldn’t be who I am today.

They welcomed me into their church in 2014 with no strings attached. They said come as you are and belong before you believe, and because of that, today I truly am a faithful believer in our Lord Jesus Christ! I not only got saved by coming to know him, I am a living testimony that is proof to others that the same love he has offered me is given freely to anyone who comes to know him.

What has become my favorite way to give is telling my story, telling my testimony of who I was before I knew Jesus and who I am now because of him. My life before coming to know God was a life filled with habits, hurts, and hang-ups. Never would I have thought I would surrender my life to Jesus, nor did I think I would become a pastor. I was involved with gangs all my life, and I did things to make money that were not legal. I had a lot to show for what I had done, but the one thing I didn’t have was Jesus.

So in 2013, he started breaking down the barriers, and in 2014, I came to church for the first time since I was a teenager. Jesus was, is, and will always be the greatest gift. By being a part of the Valley Food Bank’s food program, we get the opportunity to share our personal stories of our relationship with Jesus to those who come each week to receive the groceries at our weekly pop-up pantry.

There was once a time where I saw no hope, and by someone telling their story, telling of their encounter with Christ, that’s what started my journey toward him. Someone’s testimony is how God reached me, and if my sharing can be used by the Lord in the same way, I would count it as blessing. Giving is not just something I do to feel good or because I feel like it might help. It is something that I know I am called to do!

I was drawn to the idea of giving as a way to share the Lord with others, to take our victories and live them out in the things we do and say. I tithed monetarily but felt the Lord say, ‘Do more.’ I never allowed myself to consider other means of giving. Now, I am not saying financial support is not a good thing—it is—but there is so much more to giving than dropping
a few dollars into a basket.

That is when I began our community outreach. We started by going out and feeding a few friends on the streets. Then in October 2017, our church got the keys to our new building, and ever since, we’ve offered a Hot Shower and a Hot Meal program, as well as a to-go lunch every Saturday.

Since that year, we have been blessed to open our doors and have a Friendsgiving every year for thousands of our friends from the streets, as well as those who are less fortunate and can’t afford a Thanksgiving meal for their families. We love to welcome them into our building to join us as we serve a delicious meal with all the fixings.

Growing up I had always dreamed of serving our homeless community and those who need help. I am so thankful for being able to partner with the Valley Food Bank to do what we do every week, as well as during the holidays, and especially now, when we as a nation are suffering. I thank you for allowing me to share with you how by receiving your donations, as well as your generosity, we are able to help others provide for their family and loved ones.

Filed Under: News, Stories

Spotlight on the Valley Food Bank

October 2, 2020 By joann

Written by the Noho Arts District

We are happy to share the successes of our local North Hollywood folks and would like to give a big round of applause to NoHo’s own health and fitness expert and personal trainer and adventure travel tour operator Jack Witt. Every year Jack does a volunteer project to help an aspect of our North Hollywood community. This year he’s done a food donation drive for the Valley Food Bank. During these unprecedented and scary times, we need to make sure our safety nets are secure but open our hearts to those in need. While dropping off his food donations, Jack  had a chat with their director, William Hernandez.

How long have you been with Valley Food Bank?

I joined the team in March 2004 (16 years).

What keeps you motivated? What drives you?

Each and every day we receive feedback from struggling families how the food resources and other essentials have made a difference to them and their family.

How have things changed at Valley Food Bank since the pandemic started?

Great question. Without any notice or time to prepare we shifted gears to acquire as much food as we could distribute. Then we needed to convert to a farmers market style of distribution to comply with social distancing and minimal to no contact distribution. We served 10,000 additional families last month. Lots of food! And we’re happy that support has continued to make this happen.

What type of community and civic partners do you typically team up with?

Anyone and everyone that wants to help. Elected officials have been great as well as The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank and several Rotary Clubs and foundations.

What’s the best way people can help?

With the limitation of 10 volunteers per day to maintain social distancing and a safe environment for volunteers, the best way to help is donation of food and hygiene supplies and/or cash.

When things get back to normal, what’s ahead for Valley Food Bank?

I believe with have established a new level of support for struggling families and will work hard to maintain sufficient resources to continue our campaign – Fighting Hunger – Feeding Hope.

If you’d like to make a donation to Valley Food Bank please click this link: https://valleyfoodbank.org/donate/  And here’s the volunteer link: https://valleyfoodbank.org/volunteer-sign-up/

Filed Under: News, Stories

Local Family Honors Their Late Son With “I Got You” Day Of Giving

June 28, 2019 By Tammy VanDeusen

“Hi Will, you may not recall me, but I dropped off a donation to the Valley Food Bank. I wanted to send you the attached picture of you and me and tell you a little about what we were doing that day. May 6th would have been my son Jason’s 27th birthday. Instead, it was his first heavenly birthday as he passed away in July of 2018. The shirt I was wearing in the picture with the number 55 was in honor of him. He played football for Arizona State and was No. 55.

I struggled for several weeks trying to figure out how to get through his birthday, and then it came to me. Or I should say, Jason handed the idea to me. One of Jason’s favorite sayings was “I Got You.” He used it all the time for so many positive reasons, whether it was buying a meal for someone to eat or offering his couch to someone to sleep on.

So, we have decided to celebrate his birthdays going forward as “I Got You” day. That is, we will spend every May 6th trying to help others… trying to show them that there are people out there that “got them” and are there to help get them through their day. My sister Sherri and my husband Gregg joined me this year in delivering clothes, food, personal care items and toys to homeless shelters, to individual homeless people we encountered on the streets, to the Valley Food Bank, to no-kill animal shelters, and to the UCLA Children’s Hospital. We started our day buying drinks for the two cars behind us at Starbucks and ended the day buying a meal for the car behind us at McDonald’s.

What made the day even more special is that hundreds of my friends and friends of friends carried the “I Got You” spirit forward on that day doing special things for people who needed a little help.

I cannot thank you enough for the gratitude you showed that day for our donation. We plan to make this a much bigger event next year and we promise your organization will be on our “I Got You” donation drive list. I also want to thank my son, Jason, for giving me a way to both honor him and make his birthday a happy day for me and so many others going forward.” ~Submitted by Jan Franklin

Filed Under: Featured, Stories

Giving Back After Getting Help

April 26, 2019 By Tammy VanDeusen

Rosie and her two daughters, Cady and Eryn, donated 182 pounds of dry goods, protein and produce last month. This was the second time in three months Rosie came to a pantry. The first time she came to receive food.

Rosie found herself unemployed and out of food. With nowhere to go, she went to one of the food bank pantries for help. In the months following her first visit, she managed to get back on her feet. Because of the kind service she received, she felt she needed to give back. “A few months ago I had nothing, but now that I have a little extra, I want to give back,” she said.

Rosie approached her friends and family to join her in collecting food. Her 5-year-old granddaughter even chipped in with a bag of food. People like Rosie make everything we do worth it.

Filed Under: Featured, Stories

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Recent News

  • After a challenging and rewarding year, we look forward
  • Pastor reflects on life change, commitment to giving
  • Goodbye 2020, bring on 2021
  • Home Depot water delivery blesses Food Bank

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Valley Food Bank
12701 Van Nuys Blvd. Suite A
Pacoima, CA 91331 
(818) 510-4140

The Valley Food Bank is an outreach of the Rescue Mission Alliance, a 501(c)(3) private nonprofit organization

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