15 July 2015

Family Services Food Pantry Provides Fresh Produce for Local Families

For over twenty years, The Salvation Army Silicon Valley Family Services has been a beacon of hope for those in towns like San Jose, Milpitas, Alviso, Campbell, and Santa Clara.  The Corps community center holds a weekly food pantry where staff and volunteers distribute canned fruits and vegetables, breads, snack items, frozen meats when available, and other non-perishable items to more than 1500 families each month. Recipients can also receive a wide variety of seasonal items including berries, oranges, greens and more every Monday morning.

These fresh items really provide additional nutrition for our families, but are costly and can take a huge chunk out of their grocery budget. We are pleased that we can help family’s access healthier food without compromising their finances.

There is a constant need for food in the community as some residents live at or below the poverty level, while others have exhausted their savings and benefits. Keeping up with medical bills, rising utility costs and other expenses can sometimes only be done by sacrificing the food budget.

Last year, the community center received the addition of a walk-in outdoor refrigerator and freezer unit built alongside our Family Services department. With 300 square feet of extra cold storage space available, we can now more adequately meet the needs of our community and provide Thanksgiving turkeys and Christmas chickens to family's in need.

At 76 years old, Ron Denham still manages to volunteer in the food pantry every week, where he happily fills grocery bags and hands them out with a reassuring smile. He has been volunteering his free time since 2013 when he entered the Motive Man program at the Emmanuel House. According to Ron, he volunteers at The Salvation Army with a grateful heart and a loving spirit. “I am more grateful than blessed”, he says. Well, we are grateful Ron is on our team!