Community Produce Giveaway in San Marino

Saturday, September 12, 2026 Saints Felicitas and Perpetua Church, 1190 Palomar Road, San Marino, CA 91108

We gave away 253 bags of fresh produce to 253 families, about 1,300 pounds of fruit and vegetables, with the help of roughly 60 volunteers.

The first family arrived on foot at nine in the morning, a full hour before we opened. The last bag went out well before noon.

What Went Home

Apples, peaches, cucumbers, bananas, melon, and more, packed a bag at a time and handed to whoever walked up. No cost, no paperwork, no appointment, and nobody was asked to prove anything.

Who Made It Possible

Every pound of produce was donated. Our thanks to:

• Social Justice Learning Institute in Inglewood, who filled a truck
• Hollywood Food Coalition in Glassell Park
• Seeds of Hope
• Trader Joe’s, who provided the bags for all 253 families

And to the volunteers, who outnumbered every event we have run before. Several came because they saw a video online, showed up to a place they had never been, and spent a Saturday morning handing groceries to strangers.

How People Found Us

Almost everyone who came on Saturday, families and volunteers alike, found us on Instagram and TikTok. Not from a flyer, not from a mailing list. In the week around the event our following roughly doubled and the videos were watched close to 100,000 times. One person saw a post at work and brought their kid along to help.

If you want to know when the next giveaway is, that is the fastest place to hear it: Instagram @seedtoservela.

What Changes Next Time

We are going to do this more often. September 12 was planned as a one off, and it went well enough that we are aiming for a giveaway every other week. A giveaway needs no kitchen and no cooking permit, which is what makes that pace possible. It does not replace cooking. We are still cooking, and we are working out how to run both. The next date goes up here and on Instagram as soon as it is set.

We are splitting it across two days. Volunteers will come the day before to sort and bag, and a smaller crew will hand out on the day itself. That does two things. Every bag gets looked over by hand before it goes to a family, and volunteers get real work to do. On the 12th we did not have enough of it. We were done so fast that people who had given up their whole morning were left standing around, and we owed about ten of them an apology.

Come at the start. We opened at 10 and the first family was waiting at nine. The last bag went out before noon, more than an hour before our posted finish. Someone who drove over at one o’clock found an empty room. If you are coming for produce, come early.

About Donated Produce

All donated produce is distributed as is. Our Food Donation Distribution Policy explains the limits of our liability as a distributor of donated food, and a copy of the notice was posted at the distribution table on the day.

Questions

Email us at contact@seedtoservela.com and we will get back to you.