Director’s note

Gabby Mondragon and Benita Smith lead
Freedom Church’s food pantry ministry.

There are a lot of reasons to love the New Year. Perhaps it’s the thought of starting fresh, and the potential of what lies ahead. I love that we can close out certain chapters in our lives and start new adventures full of opportunities.

Something I find fascinating is the creation and commitment to New Year’s resolutions. It’s interesting to see people endeavor in new hobbies and routines for a period of time before inevitably burning out on their newfound passion.

I’ve learned that the key to seeing long-term success is vision. The reason most resolutions fizzle out is because people make decisions without having a vision for where they want their life to go—that final destination.

My vision for this New Year at the Rescue Mission Alliance Valley Food Bank is pretty simple: meet the need. This is an ongoing vision, one that can’t be reached by just us alone. It’s a vision that has no end, as it’s recorded in Matthew 26:11 TPT by Jesus himself: “You will always have someone poor whom you can help...” I love that we can be a blessing to families and individuals of all backgrounds and on various journeys. But in order to meet the need of so many more families, we’re going to need more amazing pantry partners dedicated to reaching their city.

I want to highlight a new pantry that we have partnered with that has been dedicated to reaching their city ever since their church began. Freedom Church in Chatsworth started with the vision of reaching their neighbors and meeting their needs. Their heart is to “Adopt The City.” From various ministries like laundry love (free laundry services), shoe drives for kids, feeding the homeless, adopt-a-blocks, and facilitating a weekly drive-thru pantry, Freedom Church is committed to meeting the needs of their city. This is why we have become such great partners—we share the same vision.

Freedom Church first started their drive-thru food pantry at the beginning of the COVID pandemic by providing fresh food and dry goods to around 40 families. Word got out about the services they were providing and the demand has only kept growing. This incredible ministry is being led by Gabby Mondragon and her amazing assistant Benita Smith.

Currently Freedom Church is seeing 300 families come through their drive-thru every single week. Although they are grateful for what they are able to do, they are unfortunately still turning away families who have waited as long as a couple of hours. They simply run out of resources. But because of our new partnership, they will never need to turn a family away again.

Please continue to pray for us and our pantry partners like Freedom Church. We have truly been blessed at the Rescue Mission Alliance Valley Food Bank. We are distributing food to 40% more families than this time last year, but we can’t let up. There is a great need in our communities and we will do everything we have in our power to meet that need.

Please consider partnering with us as a volunteer or donor to help us provide new and more resources to families all over. This vision can’t be accomplished on our own. We need partners like you to meet the need.

Jeremiah Booth