Rony accepts a certificate of appreciation from Eastside Union School District for RMA Antelope Valley’s efforts in the community. Rony has helped grow RMA’s newest ministry which gets food to more than 2,000 families each month.

Rony Aguilar manages the food distribution to 15 pantries Tell me a little bit about RMA AV and your role?

A year ago, it was a weekend-only, non-profit food distribution that partnered with six pantries. We now operate during the week, partner with 15 pantries, and have a core group of volunteers. My job is the logistics of daily operations, whether that’s moving pantries around, partnering with local agencies and businesses, or making sure food gets in and out to families in need. My goal is to expand our reach but also grow our presence in the community, so we help people become aware of what we do.

Is there a partnership that’s been the most exciting?

We’ve recently partnered with Amazon Local, who route their drivers and trucks to pick up food for us. Whereas before, I would have to drive, offload the food, and put it on pallets all by myself. We get food from Foodbank of Southern California and Food Forward, which we couldn’t do before because I didn’t have a driver. Now, we are getting about 70,000 pounds of produce a month because of the partnership we created.

We just had a meeting with (Amazon Local). We were only supposed to be a one-month pilot program, but they’ve decided to extend the program for the whole year. They love what we do. And they’ll be helping out the Valley Food Bank now as well. We set the tone for that partnership and that opened the door for Rescue Mission Alliance to partner with Amazon in a really impactful way for our communities.

Wow! That’s amazing. That’s got to be one of the best parts of the job.

My favorite part is families getting fed. When we do the pop-up pantries, we go to three different places and physically hand out food to families. Watching these families get their food is both humbling and rewarding. For some, it’s not just support, it’s the only food they have for the week. And we see a lot of elderly people who can’t easily go out to get their own groceries, so what we bring to them is really the only food they’ll have for meals. It’s rewarding to see the impact that we’re truly making.

What would you like people to know about RMA AV?

I want people to see the impact that we’re having. That’s what we’re trying to push out. I always try to stress that in our social media posts. Yes, we do a lot of work here in the warehouse, but through our pantries and pop-ups is where the real impact is.

We feed 2,000 families a month. We’re really proud of that number. That’s 2,000 families that would not be able to get food otherwise. We’re the only food bank in this area. We’re not meant for family food distribution but for pantry distribution. There are other resources, but we’re the only food bank that has a network of pantries in Antelope Valley. We’re the only ones that can host a certain number of pantries to help and support them.

RMA AV is a small operation. Does that make food distribution challenging?

It is challenging. I always say it’s a small, humbling place. It has no AC, and we can’t store perishables. It’s why it’s so important to me to get food in and out. To this day, I’ve never had to throw out any food—everything goes to a family as soon as it comes in.

But if it’s done right, with the right intentions, and you love what you do and what the vision and the impact is, I don’t think you’ll ever have a bad day.