March 10, 2025 • 28 mins
In this episode of Covering Your Health, host Evelyn Erives sits down with Carolyn Fajardo, the CEO of Feeding America Riverside / San Bernardino. Together, they delve into the pressing issue of food insecurity in the Inland Empire. Carolyn shares insightful stories and statistics that highlight the challenges faced by many in our community. She also discusses the impactful work Feeding America Riverside | San Bernardino is doing to combat hunger and provide support to those in need.
Tune in to learn more about how you can get involved and make a difference in the fight against food insecurity.
For more information on this show's topic visit IEHP.org or (800) 440-IEHP.
Learn more about the work Feeding America Riverside | San Bernardino is doing at FeedingIE.org
Reach out to Evelyn via Instagram @evelynerives or email her at EvelynErives@iHeartMedia.com
Tune in to learn more about how you can get involved and make a difference in the fight against food insecurity.
For more information on this show's topic visit IEHP.org or (800) 440-IEHP.
Learn more about the work Feeding America Riverside | San Bernardino is doing at FeedingIE.org
Reach out to Evelyn via Instagram @evelynerives or email her at EvelynErives@iHeartMedia.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, and welcome back to another episode of Covering Your
Health with Elllyanie Revez, presented by IEHP Wow. Today marks
our seventh episode in the second season, and we're really
kind of going back to the basics. Something we've talked
about a lot throughout our first season.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Food.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Food. It's so important, right, So we're getting back to
the food basics. And today we are welcoming another wonderful
guest to our Covering Your Health family, Carolyn Fajardo. She
is going to talk to us about the organization that
she is the CEO of Feeding America Riverside San Bernardino,
which is providing much much needed food services and really
(00:46):
helping some of our most vulnerable communities right here in
the IE.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Carolyn is only the second this is really cool, second.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Female CEO of Feeding America, and it's youngest in history,
and she is bringing this really engaging perspective of their
mission and it's hope for the future. We're going to
talk about food deserts, how the kids can get involved,
how it's helping our most vulnerable communities in the IE.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Let's get going.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Welcome to Covering Your Health, a wellness podcast dedicated to
covering all areas of living a healthy and happy lifestyle,
from healthy hearts to understanding health plans and everything in between.
Each episode will provide you with a better understanding of
managing your health, preventative care, and staying on the right
path for your family's wellness journey. The Covering Your Health
(01:39):
Podcast is presented by i EhP. Now your host Evelina Revez.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
All right, let's get started.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Hi Carolyn, welcome to the Covering Your Health Show.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Hi, thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
I appreciate it, absolutely, very excited to have you.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
I know your organizations doing a lot of wonderful things
right here in the Ellen Empire. But let's talk about you.
I always like to start with our guests. I want
to know, like, how did you find yourself in this
line of work?
Speaker 5 (02:09):
Yeah, so I've been in the nonprofit space for about
a decade now.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
So when I was first getting started in my.
Speaker 5 (02:15):
Career, for me, it felt like the easiest way to
get into marketing and public relations and everything that I
went to school for was to start with a nonprofit
because that's where.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
The help is always needed. If you offer help, it's
almost always going to be taken.
Speaker 5 (02:29):
So when I was in college, I started interning doing development,
so working in fundraising, doing some of the marketing stuff,
and my career kind of progressed from there. It started
when I was in college, and just from there I
continued to be in the nonprofit space, primarily in fundraising
and marketing, and then at the food Bank. When I
(02:49):
started here, I was in marketing and fundraising for a
couple of years, and then COVID happened and that changed
a lot of stuff. I feel like it helped me, helped,
it helped, it gave me an opportunity to really show
my skill. So from then I was promoted and I
oversaw volunteers and fundraising, and then a few years later
(03:12):
after that, I was promoted to CEO.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
So it was a rather quick.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
Adjustment there, but I feel like I guess I learned
I worked under pressure pretty well.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
So yeah, I know it sounds like it tell me
about like your early years, Like did you.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Know all along from a young age that you wanted
to be in PR and marketing and go that road.
Speaker 5 (03:36):
I wanted to do the marketing side of things. I
really never thought I was going to be on the
fundraising side, but marketing being more crafty, creative, storytelling.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
I really enjoyed that.
Speaker 5 (03:46):
So that's really where I saw my career sort of moving.
Now my hands are a little bit in everything being
the CEO of the organization. Now I'm in operations, I'm
in fundraising, do a lot of public speaking. I'm out
in the community a lot. So my role has really transformed.
It's really shifted. It's forced me to learn new skills
(04:07):
and be adaptable. So it's certainly changed. But I still
do love the work that I do.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
No, that's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
And you're a cal State Samortadino alum and cal Baptist.
My daughter's just going to graduate in a couple months
from cal State Sanborydino too, so I'm super excited about
that congratulation. Yeah, it's exciting. It's it's I through and through.
So you did you grow up out here your whole life?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
I didn't. I grew up in La County. Most of
my life.
Speaker 5 (04:37):
I lived in the Norwalk area Norwalk wit your Yeah,
and then when I was in college, I moved to
this area. My grandparents were living in Corona at the time.
I went to se Keelsea Sambordino. So when I graduated,
my parents had moved to Riverside, and my life just
kind of moved to the I E.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
And I've I've been here since.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
So that is so funny.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
You and I had a simple trajectory. We were from Wittier, Okay, Walkery,
We're all from that area.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
We moved out this way.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
I moved to Fontana but with my family, but then
we eventually went to Corona and then we ended up
in Riverside as well.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Yeah, it's so funny.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Maybe that's how our.
Speaker 5 (05:13):
Shifts happened to the ie, right, we all kind of
jumped a little bit and until we find our place
and then we're.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Like, Okay, this is it.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Yeah, this is where I like to be. I love
it in Riverside. Now this is you know. Now my
littler kids are going to school through the programs here
and we've really found our place.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
But that's so wonderful to hear.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
So, so let me know, I understand you're the youngest
in this position ever to do this.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Tell me about that.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
So our organization has had probably in its history, maybe
four CEOs maybe five before me.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Was Stephanie Otaro.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
She was amazing, really great for the organization, brought a
lot of change, But then she moved out of state,
and she was very encouraging for me to take this role.
She kind of served as a mentor for me when
I was on the staff here, so she.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Really encouraged me to take this.
Speaker 5 (06:05):
When I was still in my twenties, I didn't have
as much confidence that I could do it. But I've
been here for almost three years doing this role now
and we're still here, so I'm not doing too bad.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
You're doing great. No, You're doing amazing. What do you
think drives your really strong work ethic? Because you don't
become CEO after a few years without a strong work ethic.
What do you think drives that for you?
Speaker 5 (06:32):
I think for myself it was probably just my family.
I mean, I come from a family where they didn't
have a lot of educational experience. So for me, you know,
first to go to college, first to graduate, got my
master's degree, felt.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
A lot of pressure.
Speaker 5 (06:48):
There was probably mostly internalized pressure, but wanted to do
well and wanted to kind of prove to them that
I could do it. And then from there, when I
was in these roles, it was more of just me
wanting to again also prove that I could do it.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
That I could take this to new places, bring new ideas,
and I think that worked in my favor.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Were there other organizations throughout the Inland Empire that you
worked with before coming over Defeeding America?
Speaker 2 (07:14):
In the Inland Empire?
Speaker 5 (07:15):
The only ones that I worked for that were also
nonprofits was at Calfee samer Nandino.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
I worked for the annual Fund.
Speaker 5 (07:21):
So when you get those calls as a parent, you
probably get those calls saying don't university. I used to
be a student caller, and I also worked for another
nonprofit on campus doing their social media.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Oh that's wonderful, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Yeah, it's you know, I always feel like those people
that are on the other end, that's training.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
I mean, that is literally setting you.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Up for how you're going to do the rest of
your career, because it does teach you how to just
be bold, be on the phone, talk to people you
don't know, ask for money, which is not easy to do.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Ever. I've done a lot of nonprofit work.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
To myself, it's one of those hard It's like the
hardest thing to do is ask put like, can you
just give me money? It's not for me, I swear
it's for rather, it's for a bigger picture. It's not
an easy thing to do, but I understand here in
the Inland Empire what you are doing with Media America
Riverside is really amazing work because there are so many
(08:23):
food insecure people here in the Inland Empire.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Let's talk about that.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Can you define exactly what food insecurity is?
Speaker 5 (08:33):
Yeah, so food insecurity is the lack of access to
three meals a day, and not by choice. So I
will say, well, I don't have lunch, so maybe I'm
food insecure. No, you're not food insecure. If you have
the means to go and get food, this wouldn't qualify
for you. But we know that in the Inland Empire
there are over five hundred thousand people that are at
risk of food insecurity, meaning they don't have access to
(08:54):
those meals, and a greater half of those are children.
So there are lots of kids throughout the Ie that
their main source of food is through their schools.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Really wow, that's heartbreaking.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
And then with COVID that that had to be just devastating.
Speaker 5 (09:11):
Yeah, during the pandemic, we saw the need increase quite
significantly when there was just sudden job losses and It was.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
A lot of people that I've had come.
Speaker 5 (09:21):
To the food bank for the first time, so they
weren't even really sure about the process or what to do,
the frequency of it, and there's often a lot of fears,
especially when there are language barriers that really deterears people
from coming to these types of distribution.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
So we still see that today.
Speaker 5 (09:39):
I feel like during the pandemic we were very lucky
that there were there was a lot of spotlight on
what we were doing, so we were able to get
the funding to be able to support the growing need.
The need is still growing today though, but there's less
of a spotlight on it, so we're not getting as
much financial financial support to be able to meet that need.
But even today, just with the economic times and lots
(10:01):
of scarcity, people are still coming to us fearful of
how they're going to.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Get their next meal.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
And so let me ask, what do you do when
somebody is on the fence about coming? I mean, how
do you get those got information out to these people
who maybe don't realize that they can just come and
receive from you.
Speaker 5 (10:24):
Yeah, So we run quite a few different hung relief
programs and we do so just so that way we
can reach people where they are and where they're most
comfortable at so we do take phone calls from people here.
We have a pantry on site, which we can probably
talk a little bit more about later, but a lot
of the way that people learn about us is actually
word of mouth. We do one program called our Senior
(10:45):
Mobile Pantries where we go to different senior sites. It's
kind of where we meet seniors where they are after
they do their fitness classes or their afternoon you know, gatherings.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
We're there with our food distribution.
Speaker 5 (10:57):
They can take the food where they're every single month,
they get they get dry goods.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
They're able to socialize while they're there as well.
Speaker 5 (11:04):
So we're serving about two thousand seniors actually close are
twenty five hundred every month throughout the Iet Mobile Pantries,
And that is one of my favorite programs because it's
pretty much primarily grown through word of mouth. When the
seniors attend their fitness classes before they tell the other
seniors so stick around to get food, and they have
their neighbors, they tell their friends, so it's grown so organically.
(11:29):
But it's such a community focused program and we don't
have any restrictions on that so even if you are
younger than fifty five, you can still come to those
sites and get food. Our goal is really to just
meet people where they are, so we prioritize seniors, but
if you need the food, you can still come by.
And pretty much with all of our programs, our staff
(11:49):
speak English and Spanish, and most of the content that
they're receiving is also in English and Spanish, so that
way they can share it with their friends, with their neighbors,
and that we have staff onside that can help people
least with those languages.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
No, that's beautiful. How many do you think you're helping
every month? Right now?
Speaker 2 (12:08):
That's a tough one because it fluctuates every single month.
But I can tell you every year we're providing about
thirty million meals, so wide a bit through all of
our programs. We have programs that are focused on seniors,
on veterans, on children. We do home.
Speaker 5 (12:24):
Deliveries, so we're doing quite a bit. Our hands are
pretty much in a lot of different baskets.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Trying to read people. So yeah, it's a big operation.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Do you see it fluctuate specifically, like.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
More need in the summer, more need in the winter,
What does that look like for you guys.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
So for us, we see a big need pickup around
the holiday season. So November December is usually when we
see a bigger need. It's also usually when we're getting
less donation. Surprisingly, being in a food bank space, we
rely a lot on donations. A lot of these donations
come from distributors, from grocery stores.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
We often get what's surplus, so.
Speaker 5 (13:07):
What's remaining after the holidays, So usually grocery stores are
pushing out their food during November December.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
We might get turkeys.
Speaker 5 (13:15):
And hands and all of the side dishes for Thanksgiving
in January. So usually we don't get those donations till
after we've already had a surplus of people come through
meeting distance. So it's always kind of just us working
with our resources to meet the need and then afterwards
distributing what we have when we get it.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Yeah, partnering with communities, partnering with businesses, things like that.
That's that's incredible. I mean, obviously I think about like
what time of year, you know, why why the holidays
will probably because people are allocating their resources elsewhere, not
thinking about all of those kinds of people that might
be in need at that time. Does that number So
(13:55):
does that number fluctuate every year? Do you see it
shift drastic or has it stayed pretty stable throughout.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
The last few years, I would say, Or is it raising?
Is it going higher?
Speaker 2 (14:09):
It sort of shifts.
Speaker 5 (14:10):
We kind of have ebbs and flows throughout the year.
Besides the holidays, usually in the summer we see a
big need as well, and we attribute that to kids
being home during the summer, maybe not having that school
being a.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Reliable source of food.
Speaker 5 (14:24):
So our partners, we work with two hundred and fifty
nonprofit partners to get food out of our warehouse. They
pick up that food, take it back to their resource centers,
their community centers or after school programs, and they meet
the need of the individuals within their community. But we
see a lot more food being picked up from our
partners during the summer months.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Yeah, yeah, that part always worries me. This summer with
the kids. We have a lot of that in our neighborhood.
We see it, we know it. We try to donate
the most we can. I really loved when the school
has really stepped up and especially through COVID and just
started hammering out food. Come and just pick up food
every day, just come pick up food every day. And
it was one of those things to see that you.
(15:06):
I think it was like a light bulb moment for
a lot of us realizing, oh my gosh, there are
so many kids who rely so heavenly on breakfast and
lunch at their school site and you know it. Yeah,
And I'm curious about what you think of food desert.
So I understand we're in a food desert here in
(15:28):
the Inland Empire. Could you explain what that is to
somebody who maybe has never heard that term.
Speaker 5 (15:34):
Yeah, So a food desert will look different across city
to cities.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
So if you're in a.
Speaker 5 (15:39):
More rural area, it means that there's essentially not a
grocery store close to where you are, so there might
be fast food places closer to you than the nearest
grocery store. There is an area in the Inland Empire,
and I'm forgetting the city name for it, but to
get to the nearest grocery store, it essentially is about
fifteen miles to get there, in fifteen miles to get back.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
So it's much easier for them to.
Speaker 5 (16:02):
Just get jack in a box when that's a mile away,
then to go to the grocery store to get fresh,
nutritious food, and it's cheaper for them to go to
the local Jack in a box to get the food,
and that poses big problems because if people don't have
access to fresh foods, they're going to have a lot
of health complications as well. It's also difficult because a
lot of these areas where there is a food desert
(16:24):
or it's considered a food desert, they're already low income areas,
so there might be transportation limitations.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
That makes it very, very difficult.
Speaker 5 (16:34):
To kind of give you an example of areas that
would be considered food deserts. Think of maybe Apple Valley, Barstow, Victorville.
Those are considered food deserts. But surprisingly there's a couple
of other cities throughout the IE that people might not
even consider, like Montclair an upland apparently a lot of
areas within that is more.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Populated with fast food places than grocery stores. So very interesting,
there's definitely a big need there.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Absolutely So how do you meet those people in those communities?
Speaker 3 (17:05):
I mean, do you drive in? What kind of resources
do you offer?
Speaker 5 (17:10):
Yeah, So, like I mentioned, we work with the network
of two hundred and fifty partners, and we have fantastic
partners that are really meeting the need in that area,
so they're driving out here, picking up that food and
then having regular ongoing.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Food distributions in their community.
Speaker 5 (17:24):
But beyond that, that still leaves little pockets that maybe
aren't getting as much support. So we do home deliveries
for households over there that are food insecure. So we
will drop off a box of food every single month
with staple items just to help them get by.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
If they're limited on funds.
Speaker 5 (17:40):
That's usually just enough food to get them through a
couple of days to a week. If it's an area
where we don't often have volunteers going out to that region,
we'll send.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
A couple of boxes just to hold them off a
little bit longer.
Speaker 5 (17:52):
Our goal is to help get them acquainted with that
if they're not able to get CalFresh assistance, but any
opportunity that we can get them cal fresh assistant, we
also want to provide that as well.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
So let me ask this, for somebody who maybe not
food insecure but wants to help with what you're doing,
can they make donations directly to your organization?
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Yes, So for US. Every dollar donated helps to provide
up to five mills.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
Wow. Really a dollar, Oh my gosh, that's amazing.
Speaker 5 (18:22):
It helps to provide up to five mills, which we
consider to be pretty impactful. I always say, depending on
where you're located, donate.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
To your local food bank.
Speaker 5 (18:31):
You can definitely donate to Feeding America at the national level,
but it's not guaranteed that those funds will ever make
their way down to the local region to support your
most in need neighbors. When you donate to US for
the Inland Empire, all of those funds stay in the
Inland Empire.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Wow. Okay, that's that's actually really really informative because I
think people don't understand that part of it, right, I
want my neighborhood to.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Benefit from this. Donate here. Then, don't donate on a
national level. I mean, donate on a national level. Nothing
not to yeah, but yeah, if you want to see
your money at work, that's the way to do it, totally.
Speaker 5 (19:09):
And supporting at the national level supports different things.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Those those you.
Speaker 5 (19:13):
Know, representatives that are on Capitol Hill really advocating for
these resources. That's what you get when you donate to
national The recognition that you see in Super Bowl ads
or in television ads, those billboards that's paid for by National.
They're really focused on bigger relationships and they're helping us
establish these relationships with the with the big guys, with
(19:34):
the Walmarts, the Targets, the Kroger's.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
All of those stores. Those relationships really come from the
work that National is doing. Donations made locally.
Speaker 5 (19:42):
That's going to buying our food boxes, helping with transportation,
making sure that your neighbor can get a food box,
they can get cal fresh, assistance, and everything that we're
doing on the ground level.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
What about food education? Do you offer some sort of
food education as well?
Speaker 5 (19:58):
Food education is so important to the work that we do.
One way that we're really trying to bring food education
to our work is through our program called TGI stands
for the Goodness and Food and it's geared to kids
aged five to nine who can join our program.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
It's a four week program where they can learn about
healthy eating, food banks, composting.
Speaker 5 (20:21):
This year, we're also going to be having a nutrition
expert from CBU join us to talk to the parents
and their children about making healthy choices.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
I love this program because at the beginning of it.
Speaker 5 (20:32):
The kids get to plant a seed to a vegetable
every week, they get to watch it grow, and at
the end of the program, the kids have a field trip.
They go to Overflow Farms here in Riverside. They're a
huge community garden if you're familiar with them. The kids
get to go over there.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
They get to walk through the different roads, see the
different produce that's being grown and anything that's already ready
to be harvested.
Speaker 5 (20:54):
They get to taste it, they get to touch it.
One of my favorite sessions was one where we went
I think it was it might've been spring or summer,
but we had went over there. There was a bunch
of corn and he was able to roast all the
corn for the kids.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
They got to you know, you know.
Speaker 5 (21:08):
Their salt and pepperoni and taste it. So it was
a really fun one and they get to take a
bagg full of produce home to their families. It's a
free program to start, you know, bringing awareness to healthy eating,
making healthy choices, substituting snacks for you know, homegrown stuff,
and to encourage them to grow their own stuff in
their own backyard when they're able to.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
So you know, it's so funny when you think about it,
when we are little kids and we're growing up in
urban areas, a lot of us don't have room for gardens.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Don't think about maybe have never even seen something.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Grow right, And so yeah, getting them started so young
is a great way for them to understand like the
process of growing food and feeling it and understanding it
and nurturing it and then how it nurtures your own body.
How young do you start these programs for these for
these kids.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
So the youngest we have is five years old, so
kindergarteners learning about it.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
It's really fun.
Speaker 5 (22:06):
We get a lot of siblings that'll come, so they
might be five and seven or five and eight, and
then we've had kids that they phase out of the program,
but then they still want to come back with their siblings,
so they help us out with the program, help us
with the demos, So.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
It's a lot of fun.
Speaker 5 (22:20):
We actually get a lot of homeschool kids that come
out to it as well, so it's their chance to
really socialize with other kids their age while learning. So
it's a really really fun program. And it's the only
program we have that is specifically focused on education, so
we love it. The family seem to love it, and
it's coming back actually soon. It's going to be starting
not this this weekend, but the following Saturday. I think
(22:44):
that's March eighth. March eighth and Marchers session back. So yeah,
we still have some spots open.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Kids can register, their parents can come and learn with them.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
And this is just during the springtime every year or
how do you guys run that?
Speaker 2 (22:59):
We do a spring session and then we do a
fall session, so.
Speaker 5 (23:02):
Four week program every Saturday for about an hour I
believe it starts.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Nine am to ten am. The kids will come here
learn and then they'll be on their way and then.
Speaker 5 (23:12):
The last session is an afternoon once since they'll be
at the farm, so they'll go there. I think the
time was three pm. I need a double check on that,
but it's.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
After it took one where they go out there.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
And they can learn more about this on your website.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
They go on our website.
Speaker 5 (23:27):
Is it's feeding ie dot org slash tgif beautiful.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
That sounds like a ton of fun.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
It is. It's a good one.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
And how can people get involved? Can they volunteer for
this program as well?
Speaker 5 (23:41):
This program we don't need a whole lot of volunteers
for I think we have some volunteer spot spots filled already,
but we do have a variety of volunteer opportunities available
throughout the community that are really impactful and really fun.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
And I imagine they can also find that on your website.
Speaker 5 (23:55):
Right yep, feeding ie dot org slash volunteer nice.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
I'm I'm very pro volunteer.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
I feel like there's nothing that fills your heart, fills
your soul more than volunteering and giving of something. And
I almost feel like it can be selfish because you're
giving of yourself, but what you get back when you
give is almost tenfold. I always feel that way, and
(24:23):
I love doing it. So I encourage everyone to get
out there and volunteer, especially with an organization like yours,
which is obviously doing a lot of good and helping
a lot a lot of people. Okay, so we know
that they can get involved with you feeding ie dot
org right, yes, feeding dot ie dot org. Is there
a phone number or is there support services or what
(24:43):
else would you like to send our listeners or viewers
regarding helping or getting services that you offer.
Speaker 5 (24:53):
Yeah, so feedingie dot org will take you to our
homepage depending on whether you need support or you want
to give support. You can click on the different tabs.
If you click on get help, you'll find resources about
our community partners, about our CalFresh application assistance, more information
on our senior mobile pantries. But if you're able to give,
but you will see a button, I think it just
(25:15):
says give, you can click on that and it'll say
get food, get funds, give time, or to join a tour.
Lots of different ways you can support us volunteering. We
have a variety of different ways that people can volunteer.
Some of those include sorting food in our warehouse. Some
of them would be helping out at our senior mobile
pantries where you're helping our seniors take their food box
to their cars. Some of those gleaning in the community,
(25:38):
so going to different properties, picking all of the citrus
and bringing it back to the food Bank so we
can distribute it. But also giving funds. We can stretch
those funds really far. And you know, it's such unpredictable
times right now. We don't know what nexture will look
like as far as funding, but you know, we have
a lot of concerns, so every dollar helps provide up
(25:59):
to five meals. We can reach that far and we
will do our best to make the best use of
it here in.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
The I e.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
That's a number that's going to really come that I'm
going to walk away from this remembering a dollar can
provide up to five meals.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
That's we all have a dollar.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
I mean, we can really share and that's a beautiful,
beautiful thing. Before I let you go, I love to
ask all of my guests, what are the three key
takeaways that you really want to just hammer home with
our listeners and our viewers today.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Yeah, I would just.
Speaker 5 (26:34):
Say our best way of advocating is to really just
share these resources. Whether you know people that can give
or you know people that need help, there's always a
way that we can connect people together just by speaking.
So I would say that's one takeaway. I would hope
another takeaway would be again, the dollar provides up to
five meals. We consider ourselves to be very resourceful and
(26:57):
we're confident in the way that we distribute our re sources.
So I would even say, if you have any uncertainties,
you can look at our nine nineties. This is our
guide Star charity navigator. We feel very confident in the
way that we're using our funds. The third takeaway that
I want people to get would be there are a
lot of worthy causes in the area and we're connected
(27:20):
to a lot of them. There's two hundred and fifty
partners that we work with to get resources out. If
somebody is distributing food in the community, an organization, there's
a good chance that we're working with them, So another
reason to support us.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
But just in the ie, the nonprofits here really do
need a lot of supports.
Speaker 5 (27:34):
I would say, if you're able to give, even if
it's not to us, I would give the way that
you can, because there's a big need here.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
I love that. That's a great way to end this.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
I super appreciate you coming on the show today, Carolyn.
First of all, let me say congratulations on just all
the good work that you're doing personally and with this organization.
And I hope we can reach a lot of people
and help share.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
This message of giving back and helping.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Provide the Inland Empire what they really need and sharing
all of these resources as well.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
So thank you so much for joining me.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
I hope we can have you back again, maybe closer
to the fall when you guys, kick off your next
program for the kids again, or you know, whenever you're welcome.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Back sounds good. Thank you so much, I appreciate you.
Hi, and welcome back to another episode of Covering Your
Health with Elllyanie Revez, presented by IEHP Wow. Today marks
our seventh episode in the second season, and we're really
kind of going back to the basics. Something we've talked
about a lot throughout our first season.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Food.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Food. It's so important, right, So we're getting back to
the food basics. And today we are welcoming another wonderful
guest to our Covering Your Health family, Carolyn Fajardo. She
is going to talk to us about the organization that
she is the CEO of Feeding America Riverside San Bernardino,
which is providing much much needed food services and really
(00:46):
helping some of our most vulnerable communities right here in
the IE.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Carolyn is only the second this is really cool, second.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Female CEO of Feeding America, and it's youngest in history,
and she is bringing this really engaging perspective of their
mission and it's hope for the future. We're going to
talk about food deserts, how the kids can get involved,
how it's helping our most vulnerable communities in the IE.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Let's get going.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Welcome to Covering Your Health, a wellness podcast dedicated to
covering all areas of living a healthy and happy lifestyle,
from healthy hearts to understanding health plans and everything in between.
Each episode will provide you with a better understanding of
managing your health, preventative care, and staying on the right
path for your family's wellness journey. The Covering Your Health
(01:39):
Podcast is presented by i EhP. Now your host Evelina Revez.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
All right, let's get started.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Hi Carolyn, welcome to the Covering Your Health Show.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Hi, thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
I appreciate it, absolutely, very excited to have you.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
I know your organizations doing a lot of wonderful things
right here in the Ellen Empire. But let's talk about you.
I always like to start with our guests. I want
to know, like, how did you find yourself in this
line of work?
Speaker 5 (02:09):
Yeah, so I've been in the nonprofit space for about
a decade now.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
So when I was first getting started in my.
Speaker 5 (02:15):
Career, for me, it felt like the easiest way to
get into marketing and public relations and everything that I
went to school for was to start with a nonprofit
because that's where.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
The help is always needed. If you offer help, it's
almost always going to be taken.
Speaker 5 (02:29):
So when I was in college, I started interning doing development,
so working in fundraising, doing some of the marketing stuff,
and my career kind of progressed from there. It started
when I was in college, and just from there I
continued to be in the nonprofit space, primarily in fundraising
and marketing, and then at the food Bank. When I
(02:49):
started here, I was in marketing and fundraising for a
couple of years, and then COVID happened and that changed
a lot of stuff. I feel like it helped me, helped,
it helped, it gave me an opportunity to really show
my skill. So from then I was promoted and I
oversaw volunteers and fundraising, and then a few years later
(03:12):
after that, I was promoted to CEO.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
So it was a rather quick.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
Adjustment there, but I feel like I guess I learned
I worked under pressure pretty well.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
So yeah, I know it sounds like it tell me
about like your early years, Like did you.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Know all along from a young age that you wanted
to be in PR and marketing and go that road.
Speaker 5 (03:36):
I wanted to do the marketing side of things. I
really never thought I was going to be on the
fundraising side, but marketing being more crafty, creative, storytelling.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
I really enjoyed that.
Speaker 5 (03:46):
So that's really where I saw my career sort of moving.
Now my hands are a little bit in everything being
the CEO of the organization. Now I'm in operations, I'm
in fundraising, do a lot of public speaking. I'm out
in the community a lot. So my role has really transformed.
It's really shifted. It's forced me to learn new skills
(04:07):
and be adaptable. So it's certainly changed. But I still
do love the work that I do.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
No, that's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
And you're a cal State Samortadino alum and cal Baptist.
My daughter's just going to graduate in a couple months
from cal State Sanborydino too, so I'm super excited about
that congratulation. Yeah, it's exciting. It's it's I through and through.
So you did you grow up out here your whole life?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
I didn't. I grew up in La County. Most of
my life.
Speaker 5 (04:37):
I lived in the Norwalk area Norwalk wit your Yeah,
and then when I was in college, I moved to
this area. My grandparents were living in Corona at the time.
I went to se Keelsea Sambordino. So when I graduated,
my parents had moved to Riverside, and my life just
kind of moved to the I E.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
And I've I've been here since.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
So that is so funny.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
You and I had a simple trajectory. We were from Wittier, Okay, Walkery,
We're all from that area.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
We moved out this way.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
I moved to Fontana but with my family, but then
we eventually went to Corona and then we ended up
in Riverside as well.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Yeah, it's so funny.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Maybe that's how our.
Speaker 5 (05:13):
Shifts happened to the ie, right, we all kind of
jumped a little bit and until we find our place
and then we're.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Like, Okay, this is it.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Yeah, this is where I like to be. I love
it in Riverside. Now this is you know. Now my
littler kids are going to school through the programs here
and we've really found our place.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
But that's so wonderful to hear.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
So, so let me know, I understand you're the youngest
in this position ever to do this.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Tell me about that.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
So our organization has had probably in its history, maybe
four CEOs maybe five before me.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Was Stephanie Otaro.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
She was amazing, really great for the organization, brought a
lot of change, But then she moved out of state,
and she was very encouraging for me to take this role.
She kind of served as a mentor for me when
I was on the staff here, so she.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Really encouraged me to take this.
Speaker 5 (06:05):
When I was still in my twenties, I didn't have
as much confidence that I could do it. But I've
been here for almost three years doing this role now
and we're still here, so I'm not doing too bad.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
You're doing great. No, You're doing amazing. What do you
think drives your really strong work ethic? Because you don't
become CEO after a few years without a strong work ethic.
What do you think drives that for you?
Speaker 5 (06:32):
I think for myself it was probably just my family.
I mean, I come from a family where they didn't
have a lot of educational experience. So for me, you know,
first to go to college, first to graduate, got my
master's degree, felt.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
A lot of pressure.
Speaker 5 (06:48):
There was probably mostly internalized pressure, but wanted to do
well and wanted to kind of prove to them that
I could do it. And then from there, when I
was in these roles, it was more of just me
wanting to again also prove that I could do it.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
That I could take this to new places, bring new ideas,
and I think that worked in my favor.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Were there other organizations throughout the Inland Empire that you
worked with before coming over Defeeding America?
Speaker 2 (07:14):
In the Inland Empire?
Speaker 5 (07:15):
The only ones that I worked for that were also
nonprofits was at Calfee samer Nandino.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
I worked for the annual Fund.
Speaker 5 (07:21):
So when you get those calls as a parent, you
probably get those calls saying don't university. I used to
be a student caller, and I also worked for another
nonprofit on campus doing their social media.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Oh that's wonderful, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Yeah, it's you know, I always feel like those people
that are on the other end, that's training.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
I mean, that is literally setting you.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Up for how you're going to do the rest of
your career, because it does teach you how to just
be bold, be on the phone, talk to people you
don't know, ask for money, which is not easy to do.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Ever. I've done a lot of nonprofit work.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
To myself, it's one of those hard It's like the
hardest thing to do is ask put like, can you
just give me money? It's not for me, I swear
it's for rather, it's for a bigger picture. It's not
an easy thing to do, but I understand here in
the Inland Empire what you are doing with Media America
Riverside is really amazing work because there are so many
(08:23):
food insecure people here in the Inland Empire.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Let's talk about that.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Can you define exactly what food insecurity is?
Speaker 5 (08:33):
Yeah, so food insecurity is the lack of access to
three meals a day, and not by choice. So I
will say, well, I don't have lunch, so maybe I'm
food insecure. No, you're not food insecure. If you have
the means to go and get food, this wouldn't qualify
for you. But we know that in the Inland Empire
there are over five hundred thousand people that are at
risk of food insecurity, meaning they don't have access to
(08:54):
those meals, and a greater half of those are children.
So there are lots of kids throughout the Ie that
their main source of food is through their schools.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Really wow, that's heartbreaking.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
And then with COVID that that had to be just devastating.
Speaker 5 (09:11):
Yeah, during the pandemic, we saw the need increase quite
significantly when there was just sudden job losses and It was.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
A lot of people that I've had come.
Speaker 5 (09:21):
To the food bank for the first time, so they
weren't even really sure about the process or what to do,
the frequency of it, and there's often a lot of fears,
especially when there are language barriers that really deterears people
from coming to these types of distribution.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
So we still see that today.
Speaker 5 (09:39):
I feel like during the pandemic we were very lucky
that there were there was a lot of spotlight on
what we were doing, so we were able to get
the funding to be able to support the growing need.
The need is still growing today though, but there's less
of a spotlight on it, so we're not getting as
much financial financial support to be able to meet that need.
But even today, just with the economic times and lots
(10:01):
of scarcity, people are still coming to us fearful of
how they're going to.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Get their next meal.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
And so let me ask, what do you do when
somebody is on the fence about coming? I mean, how
do you get those got information out to these people
who maybe don't realize that they can just come and
receive from you.
Speaker 5 (10:24):
Yeah, So we run quite a few different hung relief
programs and we do so just so that way we
can reach people where they are and where they're most
comfortable at so we do take phone calls from people here.
We have a pantry on site, which we can probably
talk a little bit more about later, but a lot
of the way that people learn about us is actually
word of mouth. We do one program called our Senior
(10:45):
Mobile Pantries where we go to different senior sites. It's
kind of where we meet seniors where they are after
they do their fitness classes or their afternoon you know, gatherings.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
We're there with our food distribution.
Speaker 5 (10:57):
They can take the food where they're every single month,
they get they get dry goods.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
They're able to socialize while they're there as well.
Speaker 5 (11:04):
So we're serving about two thousand seniors actually close are
twenty five hundred every month throughout the Iet Mobile Pantries,
And that is one of my favorite programs because it's
pretty much primarily grown through word of mouth. When the
seniors attend their fitness classes before they tell the other
seniors so stick around to get food, and they have
their neighbors, they tell their friends, so it's grown so organically.
(11:29):
But it's such a community focused program and we don't
have any restrictions on that so even if you are
younger than fifty five, you can still come to those
sites and get food. Our goal is really to just
meet people where they are, so we prioritize seniors, but
if you need the food, you can still come by.
And pretty much with all of our programs, our staff
(11:49):
speak English and Spanish, and most of the content that
they're receiving is also in English and Spanish, so that
way they can share it with their friends, with their neighbors,
and that we have staff onside that can help people
least with those languages.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
No, that's beautiful. How many do you think you're helping
every month? Right now?
Speaker 2 (12:08):
That's a tough one because it fluctuates every single month.
But I can tell you every year we're providing about
thirty million meals, so wide a bit through all of
our programs. We have programs that are focused on seniors,
on veterans, on children. We do home.
Speaker 5 (12:24):
Deliveries, so we're doing quite a bit. Our hands are
pretty much in a lot of different baskets.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Trying to read people. So yeah, it's a big operation.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Do you see it fluctuate specifically, like.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
More need in the summer, more need in the winter,
What does that look like for you guys.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
So for us, we see a big need pickup around
the holiday season. So November December is usually when we
see a bigger need. It's also usually when we're getting
less donation. Surprisingly, being in a food bank space, we
rely a lot on donations. A lot of these donations
come from distributors, from grocery stores.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
We often get what's surplus, so.
Speaker 5 (13:07):
What's remaining after the holidays, So usually grocery stores are
pushing out their food during November December.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
We might get turkeys.
Speaker 5 (13:15):
And hands and all of the side dishes for Thanksgiving
in January. So usually we don't get those donations till
after we've already had a surplus of people come through
meeting distance. So it's always kind of just us working
with our resources to meet the need and then afterwards
distributing what we have when we get it.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Yeah, partnering with communities, partnering with businesses, things like that.
That's that's incredible. I mean, obviously I think about like
what time of year, you know, why why the holidays
will probably because people are allocating their resources elsewhere, not
thinking about all of those kinds of people that might
be in need at that time. Does that number So
(13:55):
does that number fluctuate every year? Do you see it
shift drastic or has it stayed pretty stable throughout.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
The last few years, I would say, Or is it raising?
Is it going higher?
Speaker 2 (14:09):
It sort of shifts.
Speaker 5 (14:10):
We kind of have ebbs and flows throughout the year.
Besides the holidays, usually in the summer we see a
big need as well, and we attribute that to kids
being home during the summer, maybe not having that school
being a.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Reliable source of food.
Speaker 5 (14:24):
So our partners, we work with two hundred and fifty
nonprofit partners to get food out of our warehouse. They
pick up that food, take it back to their resource centers,
their community centers or after school programs, and they meet
the need of the individuals within their community. But we
see a lot more food being picked up from our
partners during the summer months.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Yeah, yeah, that part always worries me. This summer with
the kids. We have a lot of that in our neighborhood.
We see it, we know it. We try to donate
the most we can. I really loved when the school
has really stepped up and especially through COVID and just
started hammering out food. Come and just pick up food
every day, just come pick up food every day. And
it was one of those things to see that you.
(15:06):
I think it was like a light bulb moment for
a lot of us realizing, oh my gosh, there are
so many kids who rely so heavenly on breakfast and
lunch at their school site and you know it. Yeah,
And I'm curious about what you think of food desert.
So I understand we're in a food desert here in
(15:28):
the Inland Empire. Could you explain what that is to
somebody who maybe has never heard that term.
Speaker 5 (15:34):
Yeah, So a food desert will look different across city
to cities.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
So if you're in a.
Speaker 5 (15:39):
More rural area, it means that there's essentially not a
grocery store close to where you are, so there might
be fast food places closer to you than the nearest
grocery store. There is an area in the Inland Empire,
and I'm forgetting the city name for it, but to
get to the nearest grocery store, it essentially is about
fifteen miles to get there, in fifteen miles to get back.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
So it's much easier for them to.
Speaker 5 (16:02):
Just get jack in a box when that's a mile away,
then to go to the grocery store to get fresh,
nutritious food, and it's cheaper for them to go to
the local Jack in a box to get the food,
and that poses big problems because if people don't have
access to fresh foods, they're going to have a lot
of health complications as well. It's also difficult because a
lot of these areas where there is a food desert
(16:24):
or it's considered a food desert, they're already low income areas,
so there might be transportation limitations.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
That makes it very, very difficult.
Speaker 5 (16:34):
To kind of give you an example of areas that
would be considered food deserts. Think of maybe Apple Valley, Barstow, Victorville.
Those are considered food deserts. But surprisingly there's a couple
of other cities throughout the IE that people might not
even consider, like Montclair an upland apparently a lot of
areas within that is more.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Populated with fast food places than grocery stores. So very interesting,
there's definitely a big need there.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Absolutely So how do you meet those people in those communities?
Speaker 3 (17:05):
I mean, do you drive in? What kind of resources
do you offer?
Speaker 5 (17:10):
Yeah, So, like I mentioned, we work with the network
of two hundred and fifty partners, and we have fantastic
partners that are really meeting the need in that area,
so they're driving out here, picking up that food and
then having regular ongoing.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Food distributions in their community.
Speaker 5 (17:24):
But beyond that, that still leaves little pockets that maybe
aren't getting as much support. So we do home deliveries
for households over there that are food insecure. So we
will drop off a box of food every single month
with staple items just to help them get by.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
If they're limited on funds.
Speaker 5 (17:40):
That's usually just enough food to get them through a
couple of days to a week. If it's an area
where we don't often have volunteers going out to that region,
we'll send.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
A couple of boxes just to hold them off a
little bit longer.
Speaker 5 (17:52):
Our goal is to help get them acquainted with that
if they're not able to get CalFresh assistance, but any
opportunity that we can get them cal fresh assistant, we
also want to provide that as well.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
So let me ask this, for somebody who maybe not
food insecure but wants to help with what you're doing,
can they make donations directly to your organization?
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Yes, So for US. Every dollar donated helps to provide
up to five mills.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
Wow. Really a dollar, Oh my gosh, that's amazing.
Speaker 5 (18:22):
It helps to provide up to five mills, which we
consider to be pretty impactful. I always say, depending on
where you're located, donate.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
To your local food bank.
Speaker 5 (18:31):
You can definitely donate to Feeding America at the national level,
but it's not guaranteed that those funds will ever make
their way down to the local region to support your
most in need neighbors. When you donate to US for
the Inland Empire, all of those funds stay in the
Inland Empire.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Wow. Okay, that's that's actually really really informative because I
think people don't understand that part of it, right, I
want my neighborhood to.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Benefit from this. Donate here. Then, don't donate on a
national level. I mean, donate on a national level. Nothing
not to yeah, but yeah, if you want to see
your money at work, that's the way to do it, totally.
Speaker 5 (19:09):
And supporting at the national level supports different things.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Those those you.
Speaker 5 (19:13):
Know, representatives that are on Capitol Hill really advocating for
these resources. That's what you get when you donate to
national The recognition that you see in Super Bowl ads
or in television ads, those billboards that's paid for by National.
They're really focused on bigger relationships and they're helping us
establish these relationships with the with the big guys, with
(19:34):
the Walmarts, the Targets, the Kroger's.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
All of those stores. Those relationships really come from the
work that National is doing. Donations made locally.
Speaker 5 (19:42):
That's going to buying our food boxes, helping with transportation,
making sure that your neighbor can get a food box,
they can get cal fresh, assistance, and everything that we're
doing on the ground level.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
What about food education? Do you offer some sort of
food education as well?
Speaker 5 (19:58):
Food education is so important to the work that we do.
One way that we're really trying to bring food education
to our work is through our program called TGI stands
for the Goodness and Food and it's geared to kids
aged five to nine who can join our program.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
It's a four week program where they can learn about
healthy eating, food banks, composting.
Speaker 5 (20:21):
This year, we're also going to be having a nutrition
expert from CBU join us to talk to the parents
and their children about making healthy choices.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
I love this program because at the beginning of it.
Speaker 5 (20:32):
The kids get to plant a seed to a vegetable
every week, they get to watch it grow, and at
the end of the program, the kids have a field trip.
They go to Overflow Farms here in Riverside. They're a
huge community garden if you're familiar with them. The kids
get to go over there.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
They get to walk through the different roads, see the
different produce that's being grown and anything that's already ready
to be harvested.
Speaker 5 (20:54):
They get to taste it, they get to touch it.
One of my favorite sessions was one where we went
I think it was it might've been spring or summer,
but we had went over there. There was a bunch
of corn and he was able to roast all the
corn for the kids.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
They got to you know, you know.
Speaker 5 (21:08):
Their salt and pepperoni and taste it. So it was
a really fun one and they get to take a
bagg full of produce home to their families. It's a
free program to start, you know, bringing awareness to healthy eating,
making healthy choices, substituting snacks for you know, homegrown stuff,
and to encourage them to grow their own stuff in
their own backyard when they're able to.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
So you know, it's so funny when you think about it,
when we are little kids and we're growing up in
urban areas, a lot of us don't have room for gardens.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Don't think about maybe have never even seen something.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Grow right, And so yeah, getting them started so young
is a great way for them to understand like the
process of growing food and feeling it and understanding it
and nurturing it and then how it nurtures your own body.
How young do you start these programs for these for
these kids.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
So the youngest we have is five years old, so
kindergarteners learning about it.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
It's really fun.
Speaker 5 (22:06):
We get a lot of siblings that'll come, so they
might be five and seven or five and eight, and
then we've had kids that they phase out of the program,
but then they still want to come back with their siblings,
so they help us out with the program, help us
with the demos, So.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
It's a lot of fun.
Speaker 5 (22:20):
We actually get a lot of homeschool kids that come
out to it as well, so it's their chance to
really socialize with other kids their age while learning. So
it's a really really fun program. And it's the only
program we have that is specifically focused on education, so
we love it. The family seem to love it, and
it's coming back actually soon. It's going to be starting
not this this weekend, but the following Saturday. I think
(22:44):
that's March eighth. March eighth and Marchers session back. So yeah,
we still have some spots open.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Kids can register, their parents can come and learn with them.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
And this is just during the springtime every year or
how do you guys run that?
Speaker 2 (22:59):
We do a spring session and then we do a
fall session, so.
Speaker 5 (23:02):
Four week program every Saturday for about an hour I
believe it starts.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Nine am to ten am. The kids will come here
learn and then they'll be on their way and then.
Speaker 5 (23:12):
The last session is an afternoon once since they'll be
at the farm, so they'll go there. I think the
time was three pm. I need a double check on that,
but it's.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
After it took one where they go out there.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
And they can learn more about this on your website.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
They go on our website.
Speaker 5 (23:27):
Is it's feeding ie dot org slash tgif beautiful.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
That sounds like a ton of fun.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
It is. It's a good one.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
And how can people get involved? Can they volunteer for
this program as well?
Speaker 5 (23:41):
This program we don't need a whole lot of volunteers
for I think we have some volunteer spot spots filled already,
but we do have a variety of volunteer opportunities available
throughout the community that are really impactful and really fun.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
And I imagine they can also find that on your website.
Speaker 5 (23:55):
Right yep, feeding ie dot org slash volunteer nice.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
I'm I'm very pro volunteer.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
I feel like there's nothing that fills your heart, fills
your soul more than volunteering and giving of something. And
I almost feel like it can be selfish because you're
giving of yourself, but what you get back when you
give is almost tenfold. I always feel that way, and
(24:23):
I love doing it. So I encourage everyone to get
out there and volunteer, especially with an organization like yours,
which is obviously doing a lot of good and helping
a lot a lot of people. Okay, so we know
that they can get involved with you feeding ie dot
org right, yes, feeding dot ie dot org. Is there
a phone number or is there support services or what
(24:43):
else would you like to send our listeners or viewers
regarding helping or getting services that you offer.
Speaker 5 (24:53):
Yeah, so feedingie dot org will take you to our
homepage depending on whether you need support or you want
to give support. You can click on the different tabs.
If you click on get help, you'll find resources about
our community partners, about our CalFresh application assistance, more information
on our senior mobile pantries. But if you're able to give,
but you will see a button, I think it just
(25:15):
says give, you can click on that and it'll say
get food, get funds, give time, or to join a tour.
Lots of different ways you can support us volunteering. We
have a variety of different ways that people can volunteer.
Some of those include sorting food in our warehouse. Some
of them would be helping out at our senior mobile
pantries where you're helping our seniors take their food box
to their cars. Some of those gleaning in the community,
(25:38):
so going to different properties, picking all of the citrus
and bringing it back to the food Bank so we
can distribute it. But also giving funds. We can stretch
those funds really far. And you know, it's such unpredictable
times right now. We don't know what nexture will look
like as far as funding, but you know, we have
a lot of concerns, so every dollar helps provide up
(25:59):
to five meals. We can reach that far and we
will do our best to make the best use of
it here in.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
The I e.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
That's a number that's going to really come that I'm
going to walk away from this remembering a dollar can
provide up to five meals.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
That's we all have a dollar.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
I mean, we can really share and that's a beautiful,
beautiful thing. Before I let you go, I love to
ask all of my guests, what are the three key
takeaways that you really want to just hammer home with
our listeners and our viewers today.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Yeah, I would just.
Speaker 5 (26:34):
Say our best way of advocating is to really just
share these resources. Whether you know people that can give
or you know people that need help, there's always a
way that we can connect people together just by speaking.
So I would say that's one takeaway. I would hope
another takeaway would be again, the dollar provides up to
five meals. We consider ourselves to be very resourceful and
(26:57):
we're confident in the way that we distribute our re sources.
So I would even say, if you have any uncertainties,
you can look at our nine nineties. This is our
guide Star charity navigator. We feel very confident in the
way that we're using our funds. The third takeaway that
I want people to get would be there are a
lot of worthy causes in the area and we're connected
(27:20):
to a lot of them. There's two hundred and fifty
partners that we work with to get resources out. If
somebody is distributing food in the community, an organization, there's
a good chance that we're working with them, So another
reason to support us.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
But just in the ie, the nonprofits here really do
need a lot of supports.
Speaker 5 (27:34):
I would say, if you're able to give, even if
it's not to us, I would give the way that
you can, because there's a big need here.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
I love that. That's a great way to end this.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
I super appreciate you coming on the show today, Carolyn.
First of all, let me say congratulations on just all
the good work that you're doing personally and with this organization.
And I hope we can reach a lot of people
and help share.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
This message of giving back and helping.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Provide the Inland Empire what they really need and sharing
all of these resources as well.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
So thank you so much for joining me.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
I hope we can have you back again, maybe closer
to the fall when you guys, kick off your next
program for the kids again, or you know, whenever you're welcome.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Back sounds good. Thank you so much, I appreciate you.
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