Ventura County family farm pays it forward by donating produce to food bank
MOORPARK, Calif. (KABC) -- With food insecurity seen so frequently during the pandemic, there's nothing better than to pay it forward, and then, to be able to pay it back. It's come full circle for those at Waters Family Farm in Moorpark.
"Last year in March, everybody was affected by COVID and our company, our employees, we didn't know if the next week they would be at work," said Jessica Waters.
At the height of the pandemic, some of their workers received emergency food boxes, thanks to Food Share, Ventura County's food bank.
"Every week with canned foods, vegetables, rice and we were so very grateful," said Waters.
MORE | LA Regional Food Bank: A much needed assistance to local residents
Now several months later, the farm is able to donate back what they have to help feed others in the community... in this case, fresh blueberries.
"It brought so many people comfort to know that they could feed their families that week. So this is our way of paying it forward to Food Share," said Waters.
Food Share serves about 150,000 people every month. Last year it distributed nearly 20 million pounds of food.
"We live in a big agricultural area and so we have lots of farm workers here who are part of the people we serve every month. They were hit just as hard by COVID and they needed food assistance so it's great that we've been able to work with them, with the farmers and farm workers to be able to provide what they need," said Monica White, President/CEO, Food Share Ventura County.
Learn more about how you can help our local food banks with the Feed SoCal campaign.
