San Clemente Food Pantry Opens

To help meet our Daring Faith goal of assisting 250,000 people in need, the San Clemente Food Pantry recently opened its doors to serve communities through our local PEACE Plan.

This month, the construction team completed the finishing touches on installing the floor and new appliances. Up until this point, the San Clemente campus had been serving residents through the Mobile Food Pantry, which required keeping perishable items on ice, transporting goods, and tracking a scheduled inventory.

With the permanent facility, they are able to offer free groceries on a much larger scale. In the brief time it’s been open, an average of 30 families each week have been served through the San Clemente Food Pantry.

“We are really reaching people with the love of Jesus,” says Ron Keck, Pastor of Campuses. “Our primary goal is to build relationships. It’s not about the food. It’s about the people, coming to know a Savior and getting involved in a community of believers. We always approach people with love and sensitivity, offering a plan and steps to help them grow in Christ.”

Resources available through the PEACE Center go far beyond the Food Pantry. Other signature ministries including resource coaching/case management, tutoring, legal aid, ESL courses, citizenship classes, computer instruction, and homework club which draws up to 40 kids each week at San Clemente alone.

Adding to the many ways the campus serves, San Clemente’s new Food Pantry is open every Wednesday from 10 to 12, with tentative plans to open one evening per week. The next step is to begin construction on a reception area for the PEACE Center, slated for completion in late January.

With a roster of 100 volunteers, San Clemente’s permanent Food Pantry is among three that were slated for construction in 2016. In February of this year, Irvine South expanded its PEACE Center, and now Saddleback Anaheim is next in line. Currently, their Mobile Food Pantry serves 70 families each month, making this campus a major resource for local residents. These three facilities––along with those in Lake Forest, Corona, Laguna Woods, and Rancho Capistrano––serve over 2,500 people each month.

It’s these enormous steps of faith that help us meet our Daring Faith "A" goal of assisting those in need by interfacing with the community and serving families with the love of Christ.

“We are called to be servants,” says Ron. “We all have the time. It’s just a question as to where we prioritize.”

For more information, visit www.saddleback.com/FoodPantry.