Free Food
Do you need groceries?
Free Food Distribution for those in need
No id needed. No questions asked! At no cost!
Walk up and grab free food.
The San Clemente Baha’i Center
3316 Avenida del Presidente
San Clemente, CA 92674
New Time: 3:00-4:00pm
Every 2nd and 4th Monday
April 8 & 22
May 13 & 27
Food Connection
Community Outreach Alliance
COA Food Connection ~ Who we are, What do we do and How do we do it…..
The COA “Food Pantry” consists of volunteers who strive to feed people locally, people we may know or see every day. They are a team that is committed to assisting those in need and generally doing positive acts to help our community.
Where do we get the food?
Every Tuesday and Thursday morning (8:00 am), we have volunteers who “pick up” donated groceries from Gelson’s, Ralph’s, Target and Walmart and transport them to the pantry to be sorted, stored or distributed that day. We receive a lot of fresh deli items that need to be distributed asap. Volunteers routinely take car loads of food to areas we know are in need, all local. This usually takes a couple of hours in the morning and we always need volunteers to keep things running smoothly.
Currently, food distribution is done in two ways:
Every other Monday afternoon/evening, COA sets up a food distribution at their current pantry location, The Baha’I Center, 3316 del Presidente, San Clemente, CA 92674. This event is directed by Sylvia Hassard-Johnson, one of our lead volunteers. We always need help setting up and working at this event, and everyone is welcome to “drop in” and lend a hand! Set up begins at 2:00 pm, distribution is 3:00-4:00 pm and cleanup afterward is less than an hour. Volunteers are not expected to work the entire time as we rotate volunteers. We appreciate any time you can spare to make these food distributions successful!
On the 1st and 3rd Thursday every month, Food Connection provides shopping in a pantry setting at Cotton’s Point Senior Apartments located at 2358 S. El Camino Real, San Clemente, CA 92672. We literally “pack up the pantry”, do our pick ups and set up an outdoor marketplace where the seniors peruse the items and pick up what they want. This is where our volunteering entails more than just feeding seniors. Many of the seniors do not get out of their apartments much, so they get a chance to socialize together, something they never did prior to our participation! We have been doing this for almost 5 years and many of the seniors have become family to us. Prior to Covid, twice a month we provided a homemade lunch/BBQ in their rec room, followed by bingo, games, music, prizes, etc.!
If you are looking for an opportunity to volunteer, we certainly hope you will give us a try. We have a solid core of volunteers that we know we can count on and hope you will consider joining COA Food Connection. In addition to serving our community, we sure manage to have a lot of fun while doing it and great relationships have been formed at “The Pantry”!
VERY IMPORTANT: Please complete the COA Volunteer Waiver
We need Volunteers to help setup, distribute and put away food.
Volunteers needed for either of these shifts
1st shift 2:00 – 3:00pm
2nd shift 3:00 to 4:00pm
A truck, SUV or Van and Driver is needed!
A truck, SUV or Van and Driver is needed to go to second harvest in Irvine
to be there at 1:15pm every other Friday, load up and drive to the The San Clemente Baha’I Center and unload
Finish as soon as it is unloaded 3pm latest.
Let us know if you can help!
MOLLY FLORES
