In January 2013, our volunteers launched Amma’s Pantry Project, in collaboration with the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. As an innovative alternative to the traditional “food drive” model, the Food Bank of CCS uses a new “donor drive” model that makes donating food much easier. Neighborhood coordinators equip their neighbors with a special bag to keep at home and fill with food donations over the course of two months. The Food Bank of CCS then collects the bags every two months.
In San Ramon, California, Amma’s Pantry adapted the “donor drive” model to make the M.A. Center, our headquarters in the U.S., the collection point for food donations in the area. Every two months, our volunteers collect and deliver the food donations to the Food Bank of CCS. There the food is weighed, sorted, and distributed to the community – to shelters, food kitchens, and to neighborhoods where it is most needed.
Well over 100 individuals and households in the Bay Area now participate in Amma’s Pantry. This month, Amma’s Pantry Project reached a very newsworthy milestone: it has now collected a total of more than 10,000 pounds of food (over 5 tons) since the start of the project!
