At South County Outreach’s Food Pantry in Irvine, it is important for labels on the grocery items to face out.
“When we think of clients shopping, it will take them a lot longer to turn every can than if it is already laid out and organized for them,” said Xitlaly Luna, volunteer manager at South County Outreach. “We can serve more people that way.”
It’s a small detail that makes a big difference to families visiting the food pantry, and Luna notes it’s a task that takes volunteers.
Thankfully, South County Outreach was inundated with volunteer help on Aug. 8 during Johnson & Johnson MedTech’s Week of Caring.
“They are helping us restock, organize stuff and get stuff ready for the next day,” said Luna.
Each year, Johnson & Johnson MedTech, based in Irvine, encourages employees to participate in a Week of Caring.
“Volunteerism at our J&J MedTech Irvine campus has always been part of our culture, but officially we started our Week of Caring in 2021,” said Kimberly Sanders, manager of global employee engagement. “It is an entirely employee-led volunteer team of employees that come together and really put this entire week on once a year for our teams.”
From Aug. 7 to Aug. 10, more than 500 employees participated in volunteer activities at local charities. Besides South County Outreach, employees volunteered with Second Harvest Food Bank, Girls Inc. of O.C., American Red Cross, Thomas House, Beyond Blindness, Dreams for Schools and at a beach cleanup in Laguna Beach.
“We partner with local nonprofit groups that fall into one of three pillars for us,” said Sanders, “which are healthcare access, STEM education and building healthy communities. All of the groups we worked with for Week of Caring fall into one of those categories this year.”
Employees are paid for their time during Week of Caring, and Sanders said it gives employees a chance to make a positive social impact by addressing various community needs and challenges while also getting a break from the daily grind.
“It is paid time during their normal business day and a chance to get away from their desk, get out and move,” said Sanders.
Aug. 8 was day two for J&J’s volunteers at South County Outreach, which Sanders said falls under the building healthy communities pillar.
“We are actually here four times this week,” said Sanders. “It is only a five-minute drive from our campus, which is so accessible for our teams.”
South County Outreach is a hunger and homelessness prevention nonprofit organization that provides rapid-rehousing, food programs and educational programs to help clients develop financial literacy and professional skills.
“Our main mission is helping people help themselves,” said Luna. “We are talking about self sufficiency and helping our clients progress in their journey, so hopefully they no longer need us.”
The outreach’s food pantry in Irvine distributes 700,000 pounds of food to more than 6,000 residents annually.
“Our food pantry is typically the entry point for most of our clients,“ said Luna. “That is how they hear about us.”
The pantry is a client-choice model that resembles a local grocery store where families can “shop,” rather than being handed a presorted box of goods.
“Our clients get more of the fuller grocery store experience,” Luna said.
Besides the help with the physical tasks of sorting and organizing food, Luna said hosting volunteer groups like those from J&J MedTech is also an opportunity to spread the word about food insecurity.
“When people come in, we share that Irvine and Lake Forest are the cities we serve the most,” said Luna. “For a lot of volunteers, this is where they live, and they don’t see that need, so it is actually shocking for people to learn that.”
It is also a chance for the organization to let people know what they are in need of at the pantry. With school about to start, for example, Luna said the pantry is running low on peanut butter and jelly since those are popular ingredients for school lunches.
“Things that most pantries don’t receive are oils and seasonings. We all have them in our kitchen, but when companies or large groups are organizing a food drive they are thinking of getting 500 pounds of tuna verses getting 10 to 20 pounds of salt and pepper,” said Luna.
By the late afternoon all the grocery items were neatly stacked on shelves, with all labels facing out.
While Week of Caring began at J&J’s Irvine campus, there are plans to branch out to other divisions this year. Sanders also hopes the Irvine-based teams will take their experience beyond the Week of Caring.
“Long term, the goal is that doing weeks like this will instill teams throughout the year that will say, ‘We want to do a team building; let’s go back to South County Outreach and do it again.’”
