A half dozen volunteers are moving trays of food in the most unlikely of places, the parking lot of a Ventura County university.
A Rotary Club, and a grass roots non-profit group in Ventura County is in the middle of an ambitious project, They are feeding more than 500 families in need during Thanksgiving.
It’s a project which started on a very modest scale years ago.
"This tradition started about 25 year ago. We started with eight meals from Mini's Cafe," said Mike McDermott, who is President of the Conejo Valley Rotary Club. "It grew from 12, to 20, to 50, and they said we can't do it anymore. We started buying meals from Ralph's, and Vons, and delivering them to people's homes."
They focus on underserved people who are struggling financially. It grew to about 500 meals annually.
The club started preparing the meals itself. The project intersected with a grass roots project run by one of its members, Delali Young, and her husband Damon.
"My wife and I are co-founders of D2Giving. She's also a member of the Rotary Club of the Conejo Valley," said Young. "During the pandemic, we started cooking meals for familes that we knew were in need."
They helped people like a family dealing with pediatric cancer, and that was one of 20 or 30 stories they ran across of people in need. He said it started with one or two dinners a week, and soon it was around 50 a week.
Delali Young then decided she wanted to work with her Rotary Club's Thanksgiving project, which had mushroomed in size. Delali Young admits it’s turned into a massive project, providing and delivering meals for hundreds of families.
"I had no idea (it would grow so big), but you do what you do," said Young.
"You can call me crazy," she joked.
But, they ran into a major problem this year. Just a few weeks ago, they found out the commercial kitchen they used to prepare the meals wouldn’t be available. What would they do? Some donors stepped up, contributing about $15,000 to pay for a mobile kitchen, and a refrigerator truck needed to safely store the food.
Then, California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks offered space on its campus for a temporary home for the mobile kitchen.
"Our strength is the community connections that we have," said Cal Lutheran Interim President Dr. John Nunes. "We think we're a part of the fiber, and fabric of all that makes Thousand Oaks great. This gives us an opportunity to give back in a very small way to make big things happen for the sake of those who are food insecure. "
Damon Young said the hardest thing about the project is there’s never enough food to meet the need.
While they were planning to serve around 550 families, they are hoping they get enough last minute donations to serve 600. Young says the encouraging thing is that there are also some people whose situations have improved since last year, and no longer need help.
Delali Young admits it’s an amazing feeling to be able to do something to help lift up struggling families.
"When you deliver the meals, and you see a kid run out because they have food...they smile, and they laugh...and the parents are crying...that's how it feels for me."
