Blissed out on Broadway

Produce is bagged up and ready to go. Volunteer Pablo always stacks the bags in a perfect pyramid.

By Sara Ferguson, Pantry Volunteer
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At a recent early shift on a Saturday at the South Bay Food Pantry, I lift my gaze from bagging fruits and vegetables and experience a moment of bliss. I am surrounded by a vital, purposeful community of clients and volunteers pulling together to make food available to hundreds of their neighbors. The volunteers and clients around me are doing so much more than bagging produce. They tell jokes and stories. One client jogs around the parking lot to increase his fitness. Another plays jazz on his car radio. Several clients stop by to chat and admire the vegetables. I love that I am in a place where people can express all their humanity and good cheer.

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Mother-daughter team Heidi and Melisa help organize the produce station every week.

I arrive most Saturdays at the Food Pantry around 7:15 AM. Dozens of clients are already lined up to collect a distribution number at 9:00 AM, and many others wait for me to unlock the doors and receive the Feeding San Diego delivery truck which drops off produce, bread, dry goods, rescued groceries and Starbucks treats. Volunteers carry pallets and boxes, set up canopies and tables, sort rescued groceries, bag Starbucks treats and produce, and arrange bread and other tables for distribution.

On this recent Saturday, I work with the other volunteers to bag produce. Our goal is to create 325 bags for distribution at 11:00 AM, and we work like a well-oiled machine. Three apples, four onions, then stack the bags at the next station for three tomatoes and six small avocados. The volunteers around me use English and Spanish, and I listen to catch the few words of Spanish that I can understand, smiling gratefully when someone translates for me, but content to count onions and watch the friendly, efficient progress.

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Hector and Maria wipe out each Starbucks container before we return them to Feeding San Diego.

Beatriz, Maria and Nancy bag Starbucks treats

Robert, Sonia and Mercedes take a break in Room 101. Sonia and Mercedes make sure the number tickets are color-coded, and Robert keeps the fridge and freezers organized and ready for distribution.

Gloria is the Starbucks table leader. She’s beautifully dressed to celebrate Independence Day.

Nearby, Deirdre and Nancy start giving out numbers to the line of clients, and we hear the cheerful shouts of “Viva México!” It’s Mexican Independence Day, and some of the clients and volunteers have dressed up to celebrate.
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Many of our volunteers are also clients, and after they’ve finished their shift at 10:00 AM,, they line up to visit the tables and stations that they helped to set up. Many stay after they’ve collected their groceries to attend the Gracias y Bendiciones service and volunteer for the 11:00 AM distribution.
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The South Bay Food Pantry is the place where I live out my UU values, but even better, a place where I revel in the good-nature and kindness of my neighbors and community. 

If you’d like to volunteer or donate to the pantry, contact information and a detailed list of opportunities can be found here. Please join us!

Client-volunteers line up their wagons for an early pick-up.