Valley Food Bank

Helping the Homeless


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After a challenging and rewarding year, we look forward

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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.

Pastor reflects on life change, commitment to giving

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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.

Goodbye 2020, bring on 2021

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All of us can share stories of this past year: fires, COVID-19, elections, social distancing, home schooling and on and on. What we all can embrace is hope for a great new year. Yes, we have had a number of challenges, some more than others. In the midst of many hardships, what we do know is a team of very dedicated individuals risked their health, and gave freely of their time and treasure to ensure folks that were navigating uncharted waters received food and other essentials.

So as we close this year please join me in saluting a handful of faithful servants that work behind the scenes loading and unloading vehicles; sorting and cleaning produce and fruits; inspecting cans and dry goods; creating pallets of perishable food for distribution; and most of all, coming day after day with cheerful countenances wanting to make a difference in ‘Fighting Hunger – Feeding Hope.’ May 2021 be a year filled with hope, unity and good health. Happy New Year!

Home Depot water delivery blesses Food Bank

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One of the most gratifying calls to receive is notification that the Valley Food Bank will be the recipient of a grant award. Our friends at the San Fernando Home Depot selected us to receive an award from the Home Depot Foundation. Not in need of any particular building supplies, Store Manager Kimberly Cherney, suggested a donation of water—a product that is gold to our community members in need.

With no fuss or fanfare, a truck with a forklift arrived and the pallets of water were delivered and placed in inventory. What a blessing. The Home Depot team does a variety of community outreaches making a difference to folks in need.

Thank you Kim and your team for their heart to serve others in need.

Bringing the farm to our community, and helping nonprofits in the process

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Coldwater Farm Hub, a local food hub and farm box small business run by Ashley and Steve Marlowe, have announced to their customers that they will be selling pomegranates with all proceeds going to the Valley Food Bank.

They launched their small business, partnering with Los Angeles farmers market vendors and other small businesses, at the beginning of the pandemic. They had heard from farm vendors that they had gone from selling at 20 markets down to just four, and were struggling to make those markets profitable. At the same time, they heard from many friends and neighbors concerned about going to grocery stores and that delivery services were at capacity. The Marlowes felt compelled to do something.

At the end of March they started a business and are still going strong! They have helped local farmers sell over $150,000 of produce. Coldwater Farm Hub is a very small business—just the two of them—but they hope to continue to grow and help their community so long as there is demand.

A huge part of the mission for the farm hub is giving back to the community as it relates to food supply and fresh produce. They have partnered previously with other non-profits with donated and coordinated food donations for fresh produce bags at COVID testing sites.

Coldwater Farm Hub, thank you for your creative ways of supporting our “Fighting Hunger – Feeding Hope” campaign.

 

Contact

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

Memberships

The Valley Food Bank is firmly committed to the highest standards of financial and institutional integrity. We fully support the purpose and goals of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. In addition we have earned Charity Navigator’s highest rating of 4 stars.