LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A monthlong event aimed at addressing hunger in Lake County as well as other parts of the world will culminate later this week as volunteers gather to sort, pack and deliver food to those in need.
March was chosen for the debut of “Lake County CAN!” The inaugural event is an effort of the United Methodist Church.
Lake County is a focus for the drive, according to organizers, because of its high poverty and hunger rates, and issues with food insecurity – or lack of a stable food source throughout the year – for many of its residents.
“It’s a local project, it’s a global project, and it’s one that can change the world,” Lake County CAN! organizer Rev. Shannon Kimbell-Auth of United Christian Parish in Lakeport told the Board of Supervisors earlier this month after receiving a proclamation in honor of the effort.
Kimbell-Auth said Lake County CAN! is stocking the seven Methodist Church food pantries around Lake County, putting together 50 hygiene bags for women at the Freedom House domestic violence shelter, and assembling 150 food bags which will be distributed by the Lake County Office of Education to children who don’t have access to food on the weekends when they’re not in school. They’re also collecting 20,000 meals to send overseas.
The food that has already been collected already is helping address the local need, she said. “Rather than holding onto that food we’ve already started feeding people out of it and stocked three different pantries.”
Kimbell-Auth said Tuesday that about 300 volunteers already were signed up to assist with packing food this Friday and Saturday.
Kimbell-Auth said 18 percent of Lake County residents live below the poverty level, 26 percent of local children live below the poverty level, and 50 percent of local children live in food insecure homes.
Nearly half of the county’s children also are eligible for free or reduced meals, according to Lake County CAN! organizers.
“It would be a different story if they were just hungry, but they live in a community where there’s not enough food,” Kimbell-Auth told county leaders this month.
The effort begins
Last June, all of Lake County’s United Methodist pastors attended a Methodist conference in Sacramento, where the issue of hunger was discussed. She said the group of local pastors wanted to address hunger both locally and globally, “And that’s how we came up with Lake County CAN!”
All seven United Methodist churches in Lake County have food pantries, and at least one of them is open every day of the week, said Kimbell-Auth, whose church has the largest of the pantries, with a need that has increased significantly in recent years.
Likewise, Pastor Voris Brumfield of the Middletown Methodist Church said they are seeing increases in the number of requests for help with food.
Brumfield said the church holds a once-a-month food giveaway on the fourth Wednesday, in which they assist about 30 families.
During the rest of the month, they provide emergency food to between 10 and 20 families, and also provide food for the homeless in the Clearlake area.
In addition, over the last few months the church has been hosting free community dinners from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays, and 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Sundays, plus breakfasts on Sundays and Thursdays. The Thursday breakfasts are being discontinued due to low attendance.
Brumfield said the community is welcome to those meals.
Each of the church food pantries operates differently, but all have relied on donations from parishioners as their primary source of food, Kimbell-Auth said. Lake County CAN! is setting out to change that.
The local Methodist churches have begun collaborating their food pantry efforts, with ministers meeting once a month to discuss the food-related needs they are seeing in their respective communities, Kimbell-Auth said.
“Every one of our programs has been strengthened,” she said.
Not only are they able to do more, “The other benefit is you don’t feel so hopeless” in the face of so much need, Kimbell-Auth said.
A community collaboration
Everyone from county officials to school children have been challenged to take part in Lake County CAN!, whose sponsors include United Methodist Communications, Konocti Christian Academy, Stop Hunger Now, Lakeport Early Lake Lions Club and Lake Family Resource Center.
Donation barrels have been set up around the county, including one that can be found on the first floor near the entrance of the Lake County Courthouse in Lakeport.
Earlier this month, County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox surprised Brumfield with a large bag of nonperishable food.
Children at Konocti Christian Academy have donated 1,005 food items. Terrace Middle School children donated $1,000 as a result of a drive they held at school.
“We have created a community collaboration,” Kimbell-Auth said.
However, hunger isn’t just a local issue, and Kimbell-Auth said the goal is much broader than just helping Lake County residents.
Part of the goal of “Lake County CAN!” is to gather 20,000 meals to distribute exclusively to schools in a Third World areas, she said.
Each of the seven Methodist churches in Lake County and Konocti Christian Academy are contributing $500 to bring in the semi trucks needed to ship the 20,000 meals, Kimbell-Auth said. The children at the school have been collecting pennies and dimes since last September in order to cover their donation.
The reason for distributing the 20,000 meals through schools, said Kimbell-Auth, is that in some poorer parts of the world, parents won’t send children to school because they want them working or gathering food.
By making food available at schools, children are more likely to get the chance to attend, and she said that in turn leads to education and an opportunity to bring change – and an end to poverty – to their own countries.
“We’ve taken an interesting amount of flack for that,” said Kimbell-Auth.
“We need a broad understanding of the hunger politic,” she said, explaining that whether people are hungry in Lake County or in Haiti, they’re all connected.
“I can do something about both,” said Kimbell-Auth, explaining that Lake County CAN! is bringing people together to educate them about, and engage them in, the fight.
As the monthlong effort moves into the final week, the donations are coming in, according to both Kimbell-Auth and Brumfield.
“It’s looking exceptionally well,” Brumfield said.
In the south county they have so far collected about 25 cases of different kinds of food and have 50 volunteers, Brumfield said.
“We feel this is a wonderful initial start for this program,” Brumfield said.
How you can help
On Friday, March 30, and Saturday, March 31, Lake County CAN! volunteers will gather to sort, pack and deliver the food donations they’ve collected this month, including the 20,000 meals to help Stop Hunger Now eliminate hunger globally.
The meal packing will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Friday, March 30, at Upper Lake United Methodist Church, 604 Clover Valley Road; and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 31, at Clearlake United Methodist Church, 14521 Pearl Ave.
Community members are encouraged to bring food donations to the Lake County CAN! packing events on March 30-31, or they may drop off nonperishable food items at other sites throughout Lake County.
The greatest need right now, said Kimbell-Auth, is for protein-rich foods, including canned stews and chili, canned tuna and canned meat like Spam; whole powdered milk; peanut butter; and fortified breakfast cereals.
Churches will accept donations during operating hours at the following locations:
- United Christian Parish: 745 N. Brush St, Lakeport;
- Upper Lake United Methodist Church – 604 Clover Valley Road, Upper Lake;
- Clearlake Community United Methodist Church – 14521 Pearl Ave., Clearlake;
- Kelseyville United Methodist Church – 3810 Main St., Kelseyville;
- Clearlake Oaks Community United Methodist Church – 12487 The Plaza, Clearlake Oaks;
- Lower Lake Community United Methodist Church – 16255 2nd Street, Lower Lake;
- Middletown United Methodist Church – 15155 Armstrong Ave., Middletown.
Once Lake County CAN! is over for this year, there are other plans in the works to keep the momentum going, Kimbell-Auth said.
“Poverty and hunger don’t end March 31 when our event is over,” she said.
A new partnership with the Lake County Fair will offer free admission to people who bring four food items each on the opening day of the fair, which takes place in late summer, Kimbell-Auth said.
She said the idea is based on a very successful food drive done at the Fresno fair. Local fair officials offered to hold a similar event here.
For more information, and to register to volunteer visit www.lakecountycan.org .
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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