In the Year 2025! Much Accomplished!
- Rosemary Cleaves
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
In the Year 2025! Much was accomplished!
Happy New Year! We are looking forward to another great one! All of you donors donated $131,178.58 in cash over the year, and we distributed $124,702.44 to our partner agencies in 2025 for over 550 requests for urgent or emergency assistance! We and all those clients in need truly appreciate your generosity and big hearts! This does not include all the in-kind donations that donors gave for all our various drives throughout the year. Read below! It’s amazing.
Our 2025 Activities
In addition to the outpouring of “cash” donations, there were so many other ways that our donors and volunteers made a difference.
Monthly Food Distributions at Nipomo Elementary School
Led by: Rosemary Cleaves, Mary Anne Morgan and Sue McCutcheon
Every month 12 to 15 volunteers meet on the second Tuesday of the month to distribute food from the SLO Foodbank. Each month we also purchase additional food from the food bank as the government continues to reduce the amount it provides for those in need. With rising fear, reaching our farm worker families has been challenging. Our client count has risen steadily throughout the year starting with about 300 families and ending the year with 450 families every month. In 2025 we estimate that through this food distribution the number of people who received food to be about 20,000!
Bi-Monthly Food Market at Lopez High School
Led by: Mary Anne Morgan
During the School Year every week Mary Ann Morgan orders, picks up and delivers food from the SLO Foodbank to Lopez High School for the Food Market for their bi-monthly Food Market. The staff and students at Lopez High School enthusiastically organize each month’s food market. These markets help students and their families who are struggling and often don’t have enough food to eat on the weekends. This school year the numbers have jumped significantly with the loss of food benefits. This pantry fed over 2,000 people in 2025!
The Lunch Buddy program
Led by: Ann McDowell, Judy Woo and Jean Baker
Every week when school is in session an amazing group of volunteers organized by Judy Woo, Jean Baker and Ann McDowell pack up and deliver over 120 brown bags full of nutritious food for students at 10 schools in our school district where we know of children who do not have food to eat on the weekends. Each bag costs an average of $8 to fill. With about 33 weeks of food that adds up to about $32,000 of food a school year!
Laundry Pop-Ups
Led by: Belinda Benassi, Terri Zielinski and Beth Hirsh
We have two Laundry Pop-Up teams. They have become increasingly busy throughout 2025. The two teams led by Belinda Benassi, Terri Zielinski and Beth Hirsh and their group of faithful volunteers hold laundry pop-ups primarily on the first and third Saturdays of each month. The two pop-ups helped clients with over 1,500 loads of laundry (wash and dry) and spent $6,500 in quarters!
Our Drives
Hygiene Drive
Led by: Robin Pisz
The 2025 Hygiene Drive in May was a roaring success! With Robin Pisz as the project manager, we collected over 6,000 hygiene products with a value of over $22,000! She led a team of over 40 volunteers to gather, sort, count, divide up among the agencies and deliver to the 29 agencies who needed toiletries.
In addition, we fulfilled requests from the high schools at the beginning of the January semester and the September semester for over $4,000 of additional toiletries to help students who didn’t have toiletries.
Teachers’ School Supplies Drive
Led by: Lisa Arakaki
Under the leadership of Lisa Arakaki, donors selected from a list of much needed school items for teachers at the neediest schools (Oceano Elementary, Fairgrove, Dana and Nipomo Elementary Schools, Dorothea Lange Elementary, Mesa Middle, Nipomo High School, Grover Beach Elementary, Judkins Middle, Grover Heights Elementary and the Adult Transitions Program) in our district. School supplies were gathered all around south SLO County between July 14th and August 14th. A wonderful group of about 12 volunteers collected, sorted, packed and delivered over $6,000 of school supplies. Half of the supplies have been stored and will be distributed soon once the second semester begins.
Thanksgiving Baskets
Led by: Kristin Bertsch Heenan
During the first rainstorms of this season, under the leadership of Kristin Bertsch Heenan, many donors rallied and donated over $18,000 of food for 220 families for our Thanksgiving Food Basket this year! With the generous donation of “barn” space from Robin and Jim Pisz, we pulled off the huge packing project on a very rainy day in late November. With help from the SLO Foodbank and Taco Works, each family received a turkey and a large bag of taco chips. Over 50 volunteers over 6 weeks, collected, sorted, packed and delivered 4 bags of groceries for each of the 220 families from 12 of our partner agencies.
Winter Break Food Baskets
Led by: The South SLO County Womenade Board
For the winter break in our schools’ schedules many families struggle to feed their children during the 3-week break. This year we worked with Food4Less and Taco Works and bought 5 grocery bags full of food for each family. This included cereal, milk, potatoes, granola bars, canned chicken and tuna, pasta, vegetables, bread, peanut butter, rice, flour, beans, masa, sugar and a spiral cut ham. A wonderful team of volunteers picked up the pallets of food, unloaded, sorted, packed and delivered food for 50 families. The value of the food was about $4,000!
Final Financial Tally
The estimate of total cash donated ($131,178.58) and “in-kind” donations ($86,000) is $217,000!
Next Potluck
The next potluck is on Thursday, February 4 from 4PM to 6PM at Lynn Heinrich’s Home 579 Avocet Way, (Cypress Ridge) Arroyo Grande. Mark your calendars!
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