Although Santa is incredibly busy ramping up his toy factory, he’s not forgotten the hungry and needy in our local community. That’s why the inaugural “Christmas in October!” campaign was launched by Rotary Club of Coronado in 2024, realizing that Jolly Ol’ Saint Nick probably can’t meet all of our needs.
Last October, Coronado Rotary and several other local service organizations worked collectively to deliver hundreds of pounds of non-perishable food to help our food-insecure neighbors in Imperial Beach. As the holidays approach, Coronado Rotary is asking our like-minded, local service-oriented organizations to aid in this effort, ensuring that our food-insecure friends a few miles down the Strand are nourished and supplied with the non-perishables they so desperately need. All food collected is given to the Imperial Bach Neighborhood Food Pantry, at 455 Palm Avenue, where they distribute free food monthly to more than 200 people, including low-income families, enlisted service members’ families, homeless individuals, and elder adults living in IB.
This year, specifically, it is critically important to support this effort. With the government shut-down that began on October 1, there are thousands of enlisted service members, living here locally, who won’t have a paycheck until this shut-down is resolved. Many of these young service members have young children, who desperately need the philanthropic resources (basic household food items) to survive.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 13.5% of U.S. households are food-insecure, affecting 47.4 million people and 13.8 million children. In California, 8.8 million people, which is more than one in five residents, struggle with food-insecurity. In Imperial Beach, this issue is even more dire. In 2022 an estimated 29% of IB’s population faced food-insecurity, which translates to approximately 7,500-7,800 people.
Please join fellow Coronado organizations who have already agreed to supply food for this important event spearheaded by Coronado Rotary. They include the Coronado Optimist Club, Coronado Soroptimist Club, Coronado United Methodist Church, Safe Harbor Coronado, and FOCUS Coronado.
Simply contact Rotary Past President Pat Starke at 816-591-0696 or [email protected] if your organization wishes to join in this endeavor. Let’s make it 100% participation from our generous organizations! It’s easy to participate. Just conduct a food drive in October within your organization and then coordinate with Coronado Rotary for delivery of the food on October 30.
The list of non-perishable items requested is extensive, including peanut butter; soups and broths; pasta and pasta sauce; mac and cheese; muffin mixes; jams and jellies; canned fruits, vegetables, and meats; cereal; cooking oil; and cake mixes with frostings. Ask your organization’s membership to put a few of these items in their cart each time they visit the grocery store, then coordinate as a club as to how best to deliver the food. Even easier, drop off your collected food at 1500 Ynez in Coronado, and Rotary will get it there for you.
For more information about the Imperial Beach Neighborhood Center Food Pantry, see their website: www.ampleharvest.org/food-pantries/imperial-beach-neighborhood-center-food-pantry-10932/.
Rotary Club of Coronado, through its Club Foundation, is a 501(c)3 non-profit and one of over 46,000 Rotary clubs worldwide. Rotary, which now has 1.4 million members around the globe, was founded in 1905. Coronado Rotary, with more than 250 members, was chartered in 1926 and has been making a difference for the good of others and our world since then. For more information about Coronado Rotary, visit their website: www.coronadorotary.org.
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