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Community Corner

Big Sunday Weekend Meant Big Food Donations to Pantry

Shoppers at four Laguna Beach grocery stores came through with 2,500 lbs. of donated food items and $1,000 in donations for the Laguna Food Pantry as part of Big Sunday, a national weekend of community service sponsored by the Laguna Beach Interfaith Council. Teams of volunteers were stationed outside Albertsons, Ralphs, Whole Foods and Pavilions to collect donations.

Big Sunday coordinator Sally Barron noted, “The Interfaith Council’s mission is to assist our community’s less fortunate, and pantry donations were a direct way to help. We are grateful to our volunteers and organizers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, St. Mary’s Episcopal, Neighborhood Congregational, St. Catherine’s of Siena, Laguna Presbyterian, Laguna Beach United Methodist, and the Christian Science Church.”

Volunteers asked shoppers as they entered grocery stores to purchase a few extra items to donate to the Laguna Food Pantry for donation on their way out. As result, shoppers purchased 1,400 boxes of cereal, one of the suggested items.

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The need for supplemental food in Laguna Beach is substantial. Every weekday, Laguna Food Pantry distributes 2,500 lbs. of free, fresh groceries to shoppers from area low-income households. Among those households, 20 percent of the consumers of the Pantry food are babies and children.

Big Sunday is a registered nonprofit with no religious or political agenda. Big Sunday Weekend is one of the largest regional community service events in America, bringing together thousands of Californians of all ages and backgrounds to give their time to hundreds of nonprofits, schools and other agencies that need their help.

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The Laguna Food Pantry provides free, fresh, nutritious groceries to low-income households. Located at 20652 Laguna Canyon Road north of the Dog Park, the Pantry is open from 8 to 10:30 a.m. Monday through Friday. It is run entirely by volunteers. New volunteers are always welcome. Phone: 949-497-7121 www.lagunafoodpantry.org.


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