Santa Ana, California, is known for being a food desert for low-income families who can’t afford nutritious meals. A group of Santa Ana residents teamed up to help increase food access and formed the Seva Collective— a free walk-up and drive-thru food pantry that is open daily. Seva Collective has grown into a massive volunteer-run project that distributes 60,000 pounds of fresh food to 1,200 families every month. Cars and grocery carts that visit Seva Collective are stocked with two weeks full of produce. The founders started off purchasing food themselves to donate to those in need during the pandemic, but now local vendors, food banks, farms, and companies provide groceries to help support their mission. Seva Collective places an emphasis on providing healthy food in an effort to break the cycle of food insecurity and health risks that come from processed foods.
Image via CBS
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