Laguna Beach Neighbors Host Food Drive For Local Pantry

LAGUNA BEACH, CA — Longtime Laguna Beach residents Mick and Sharon Donoff have much to be thankful for this fall. With an attitude of gratitude, they turned their gratefulness toward others, organizing a food drive fundraiser for the Laguna Food Pantry.

Sharon Donoff and her husband have frequently donated food and money to the pantry over the years, she tells Patch. After her recent cancer diagnosis and excellent recovery prognosis following surgery, she decided to do something positive for others.

"I feel like I dodged a bullet, and felt so grateful that I've been so lucky," she says. Wanting to perpetuate those feelings, she and husband Mick Donoff decided to organize a massive neighborhood food pantry donation.

It started with a popup tent in their driveway, Sharon Donoff says.

The couple made signs about the upcoming donation and posted them for all the foot traffic on Nyes Place at Balboa, posted them across Summit and La Mirada, with recommended times for the weekend dropoff. They asked for canned proteins, breakfast cereal, peanut butter, pasta, sauce, rice, dried beans and soup, all "shelf-stable" items.

Saturday at 9 a.m., neighbors started to drop off food and funds for the pantry.
"We had a steady stream of people dropping off food," she says.

In the past, the Donoff's have done their part, though they are not capable of being a "giant donor" for the food bank."

They've lived in Laguna Beach for over 40 years, and as Mick Donoff says, "we live 725 feet above sea level in a bubble."

The pair have taken food to the pantry over the years, but nothing like their latest donation. It took a neighbor with a truck, and both Donoff's to drive what amounted to 2,000 pounds of food to the Laguna Pantry. They dropped off the three car-loads of shelf-stable groceries and over $1,000 in monetary donations from the drive.

According to the Laguna Food Pantry Executive Director, Anne Belyea, they were thrilled by the donation. Such donations go a long way to feeding the almost 200 food pantry customers a day.

"We provide milk, eggs, produce, meat, shelf-stable items for our customers, about 50 pounds of groceries per family, a week," Belyea says. "All of them, South County families."

At the Laguna Food Pantry, things work differently in the time of coronavirus. Volunteers pack boxes and bags for shoppers and distribute them in the parking lot in a drive-thru service. "Anyone is welcome. We ask that they come once a week to serve more people."

The pantry relies on volunteers and monetary donations to buy food and food received from Second Harvest and Orange County Food Banks. Donations go toward buying from local food distributors and grocery stores. In 2020, they've helped distribute over 400,000 pounds of rescued food.

In Laguna Beach and across Orange County, Belyea sees a growing need for food banks, especially among people who never imagined finding themselves at a food pantry.
For the Donoff's, helping others is all part of a job well done.

They watched shoppers arrive and be gifted with bags and boxes of groceries, "just like they'd shopped at Walmart," Mick Donoff says.

Seeing their donations go to those in need was a reminder of why they held their food drive in the first place.

"We've filled up the trunk and taken food in to donate in the past, but this was such a positive feeling," she says. With the donations from their neighborhood, this was an exercise in the adage: many hands make light work. "When you physically do something, you become committed," Sharon Donoff says. "It was a doable, fun, friendly event with our neighbors, a positive experience in a chaotic time."

How can you help the Laguna Food Pantry? Volunteers are always needed, as are donations.

Right now they need clean, sturdy bags for seniors and vets. " If you have any clean, sturdy, cloth totes or heavy-duty plastic bags, please consider donating them to the Pantry. You can easily drop them off at the Pantry anytime Monday - Friday between 8 - 10:30 a.m.

Find them online at: lagunafoodpantry.org

Patch has partnered with Feeding America to help raise awareness on behalf of the millions of Americans facing hunger. Feeding America, which supports 200 food banks across the country, estimates that in 2020, more than 54 million Americans will not have enough nutritious food to eat due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. This is a Patch social good project; Feeding America receives 100 percent of donations. Find out how you can donate in your community or find a food pantry near you.

This article originally appeared on the Laguna Beach Patch