Cerritos College hosted its monthly food drive, partnering up with Falcons Nest and the L.A. Regional Food Bank, on Feb. 22 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. to help students and community members in need.

Daniel Quintero Junior, a program coordinator for the L.A. Regional Food Bank said, “We’re hoping to serve 650 households. Monthly I believe we can serve anywhere between 30,000 households just depending on the site.”

Pamela Sepulveda, the case manager at Falcon’s Nest says that every month they help distribute a variety of different foods, “That would be things like rice, pasta, canned goods, things like that.”

“We also have typically a dairy item, this month we are giving out yogurt. Then usually there’s a protein and this month we’re giving out frozen chicken,” Sepulveda said.

The volunteers that help make this event possible consist of campus staff, students and community members. Sepulveda says that it usually takes 20 volunteers to help run the distribution.

Quintero says that the food distributed comes from donations from big box companies such as Ralphs or Walmart.

“We do reach out to those big box companies, that if they do have anything they would like to donate and we establish relationships where it’s a weekly thing,” he said.

Quintero added that a lot of donations also come from offices that have their donation bins, big corporations and also from just anybody who would like to donate.

To ensure the quality of the food that’s distributed, it’s inspected multiple times to make sure it’s safe for consumption.

Quintero explains, “Whenever it’s donated, in our warehouse… they inspect the food, I want to say four times at least before it’s out to the public.”

“It also comes out here to this distribution, where we do another inspection so I would say four to five times before it actually gets to the recipient’s hands.”

The program coordinator for the L.A. Regional Food Bank would like to encourage students and other community members to help spread the word around, since word of mouth is how they’re able to spread the news so people know when and where the next distribution event is.

“Tell your neighbors, tell your friends, tell your family,” Quintero said.

Sepulveda would like to share that Falcon’s Nest also provides more support for students, they have a market where students can go grocery shopping and a clothing store for students to use professional clothing items for free.

“We also have emergency aid for students who are facing an unforeseen financial crisis, with housing support and books.”

“So we have a lot of different support for students to make sure that they can pay for their classes and that they can pay for their bills and not quit school as a result of not being able to pay,” she said.

Veronica Sanches, a recipient living in Lakewood, appreciates the work being done by Falcon’s Nest and the L.A. Regional Food Bank.

“The more food the better, you know to help ease each day because this economy is not too good,” said Sanchez.

The Falcon’s Nest and the L.A. Regional Food Bank are helping make a difference in the community so if anyone would like to help by volunteering, they can reach out to both.

The L.A. Regional Food Bank will be in Cerritos College again next month, on March 22. from 9 a.m. – 11 a.m.