These are the stories of people who escaped dire circumstances and were given the opportunity to thrive.
By reaching out for help, the thousands of brave people our partner agencies serve undergo incredible transformations. They are able to escape homelessness and hunger, many while managing chronic or diet-related health conditions. Often, they achieve independent success. All along the way, the power of food is clear: to sustain, support, and nourish them like nothing else can.
Please note: all names and photos have been changed to protect privacy.
Yolanda’s Story
Yolanda has been visiting Westside Food Bank’s Free Mobile Markets weekly for the past year. As a retired senior, she is grateful to have a food pantry just down the street from her Santa Monica home. She’s happily lived there for the last 50 years, but due to rising costs, she says Social Security isn’t enough to cover her expenses.
“Thank you, everybody who gets this for us,” Yolanda said. “You’re helping a lot. I don’t buy rice in the store. And I have rice, I have fruits, I have everything.”
As a regular client, she has seen Westside Food Bank’s services grow significantly over time. She expresses her gratitude for the food that not only supports her but also helps more than 200 people who come each week to the Virginia Avenue Park Pantry. Each week, she brings home food that not only nourishes her but also allows her to share meals with her son and daughter when they visit.
Saida is a first-generation college student at Santa Monica College. Not only does she take classes, but she does this all while being the oldest daughter, the sole provider for her family of five, and having a disability. She says the Bodega Food Pantry at SMC has been essential to her success in school. Westside Food Bank provides 60% of the food provided there.
Saida says, “I’m also lucky that the college itself actually gives a way for first-generation adults who have children or siblings to have a way for us to continue going to college.”
Saida goes on to say how grateful she is for the Bodega. She accesses the food pantry for resources at least once a week and has been going since it first opened. Saida appreciates the wide range of fresh produce available at the Bodega, which enables her Mexican family to cook traditional dishes such as Arroz con pollo while also experimenting with new kinds of food.
Rosario has been visiting Westside Food Bank’s Virginia Avenue Mobile Pantry with her grandson for the past year. She’s originally from El Salvador and lost her job three years ago. She considers the food from the pantry a blessing, especially the fresh vegetables she receives every week.
One memorable visit to the pantry, Rosario says: “I got plums, and what I do with the plums, I learned how to make plum jelly for the kids. With less sugar, it’s good. With all the fresh vegetables, we can make salads and prepare sandwiches with fresh lettuce and stuff that we use.”
She expresses deep gratitude for the Mobile Pantries, which make it possible for her to afford other vital necessities. She also appreciates the warm and kind atmosphere at the pantry, and she is happy to have a dependable source of food.
After serving in the Army Band for two years during the Vietnam War, Richard came home, continuing his passion for playing his saxophone. Now, he plays his favorite genres of music at the Veterans Administration Campus and senior centers around LA county.
Due to rheumatoid arthritis, Richard’s mobility is limited. He has been able to stop by Westside Food Bank’s Mobile Pantry twice a month between hospital visits at the VA.
“It’s kind of hard for me to walk sometimes,” Richard says. “That’s why I have a walker. And it’s kind of tough to do all this stuff and carry [it] to the car. I can still drive. I walk, but I walk very slow. By coming [to the Mobile Pantry], it saves me a lot of walking and driving to whatever market I want to go to.”
Richard says some of his favorite foods from the Mobile Pantry are peaches, corn, and string beans. He says his wife uses a lot of the fresh vegetables he gets from the Mobile Pantry to make a “really good” soup.
Maya worked as a maid to support her two children ages 2 and 6. She often found herself struggling to make ends meet, especially at the end of the month when rent was due. Sometimes she would even skip meals so that there would be enough food for her daughters and enough money to pay the rent. Eventually, even that was not enough.
Faced with possible eviction, Maya asked everyone she knew where she could get some help. A friend told her about a local food pantry, one of Westside Food Bank’s member agencies, that gives food to low-income families. At first she hesitated, not wanting to ask strangers for help, but eventually her desire to feed her children won out and she applied for aid. She began receiving bags of groceries every week and no longer skipped meals.
Eventually, case managers assisted Maya in obtaining her equivalency diploma. She was able to enroll her youngest daughter in a free preschool program and received a grant to take classes at a community college. She obtained her associates degree and is currently working in a medical office while she trains to become a nurse. “I never dreamed that just going to get food could change my life forever,” says Maya. “I will always be grateful to the kind people who provided not only food, but the guidance and hope that helped me to make a better life for my children.”
When the California fires of January 2025 first broke out, Natalie had to evacuate with her husband and their two children – a 10-year-old boy and an 11-month-old baby – from their home in Santa Monica.
Fortunately, they were able to evacuate safely with their family in Palmdale. However, Natalie lost her restaurant job after the building burned down in Pacific Palisades. Now, her family is solely relying on her husband’s income, which is not enough to cover their bills.
“Kids are so smart, and they see when you are worried about something,” Natalie said. “So they see you struggle with this, with the job, with the money, and say, ‘You know what, I’m going to eat just a little bit because you can eat also this food for us.’”
Natalie is so thankful for Westside Food Bank’s distribution services, which allow her to bring more food home for her family. She says she is especially grateful for the extra support and empathy during this challenging time.
Juana has been coming to Westside Food Bank’s Free Mobile Market in Virginia Avenue Park for about a month. She says it’s been extremely beneficial for her family, allowing her to bring fresh and organic produce home to her family of five.
“Everything’s extremely expensive, so that really helps me a lot,” Juana said. “I’m very thankful for the food that we get here. It just helps me when the grandkids come home, I have something to feed them – a salad, something from the produce, fresh vegetables, and some fruit.”
Juana says she is a proud grandmother, and she loves using Westside Food Bank food to make apple and peach cobblers with her 2-year-old and 9-year-old grandkids.
During the Vietnam War, Jay served with the Marines—coming in close contact with Agent Orange. After fighting a battle with cancer and winning, Jay now serves his fellow veterans every week.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Jay consistently picks up food from Westside Food Bank’s Mobile Pantry and distributes it to “the veterans who cannot be here”. His friend and fellow veteran, Steve, will help drive him to different community and senior centers to pass out the food. When Steve isn’t available, Jay loads up a backpack and two bags with the food, then hops on the bus—determined to feed veterans around the Westside.
“God bless all of you because you fill the need,” Jay says. “Most people didn’t think that the Westside needed it. You know, you got Beverly Hills, you got Bel Air, you got Brentwood. ‘Oh, they don’t need nothing on the Westside.’ They forgot to look at the veterans that were living here.”
Jay says he is proud to be making a difference in the community, and it’s been a very humbling experience for him. He says the food from the Mobile Pantries is a “godsend” for the veterans who cannot afford it, especially with the skyrocketing costs of groceries.
Gabriela started coming to Westside Food Bank’s Mobile Pantry in January. She comes every Friday to get food and says this saves money for other essential needs.
She especially appreciates how fresh the food is and how high-quality the vegetables are. Gabriela says the cilantro she gets from us stays fresh for two weeks compared to cilantro from the market, which goes bad in a couple of days. The Mobile Pantry has also introduced her to some new foods, like kale. When visiting our distribution, she says she notices people from different socioeconomic backgrounds in line for food, and she is very grateful to have access to this service.
After being homeless for a couple of years, he was injured in a hit-and-run accident, which left him sleeping in his wheelchair on the streets at night. While working with a local nonprofit to find his forever home, Dennis relies on several Westside Food Bank partner agencies to put food on his table.
When Candy found herself without an income to pay for things like rent, utilities, and groceries, she turned to Nourish LA, one of Westside Food Bank’s partner agencies while looking for a new place of employment.
She found Nourish LA through her mother. Candy’s mother is currently unemployed because her workplace recently shut down due to renovation. The two of them meet at the pantry every Sunday.
“They give us an assortment of things… It’s such a blessing to have the food pantry. I think especially right now with the economy, it not only helps me, it helps all these people. There are so many young people here. There are older people, and families come here. So, we need this. It’s so helpful.”
When their father’s work started to drop, Andrea and Sofia, sisters with a 10-year age gap—Andrea is 18, and Sofia is 8—turned to Westside Food Bank’s free Mobile Markets to gather food for their family of six.
“It has definitely helped a lot just because of everything that’s going on right now,” Andrea said. “…Coming here helps us with food and just knowing that we’ll have that sense of help.”
Andrea says she is grateful for the opportunity to wait in line with her younger sister.
“I feel like it really helps her appreciate the things she has at home, cause I know many kids take food for granted,” Andrea said. “Like the fact when we bring her here, she actually gets to see behind the scenes of what getting food is. I think that will help her perspective, and also just seeing the way her face lights up whenever she sees people give the food out.”
Yolanda has been visiting Westside Food Bank’s Free Mobile Markets weekly for the past year. As a retired senior, she is grateful to have a food pantry just down the street from her Santa Monica home. She’s happily lived there for the last 50 years, but due to rising costs, she says Social Security isn’t enough to cover her expenses.
Saida is a first-generation college student at Santa Monica College. Not only does she take classes, but she does this all while being the oldest daughter, the sole provider for her family of five, and having a disability. She says the Bodega Food Pantry at SMC has been essential to her success in school. Westside Food Bank provides 60% of the food provided there. 
Rosario has been visiting Westside Food Bank’s Virginia Avenue Mobile Pantry with her grandson for the past year. She’s originally from El Salvador and lost her job three years ago. She considers the food from the pantry a blessing, especially the fresh vegetables she receives every week.
After serving in the Army Band for two years during the Vietnam War, Richard came home, continuing his passion for playing his saxophone. Now, he plays his favorite genres of music at the Veterans Administration Campus and senior centers around LA county. 
When the California fires of January 2025 first broke out, Natalie had to evacuate with her husband and their two children – a 10-year-old boy and an 11-month-old baby – from their home in Santa Monica. 
Juana has been coming to Westside Food Bank’s Free Mobile Market in Virginia Avenue Park for about a month. She says it’s been extremely beneficial for her family, allowing her to bring fresh and organic produce home to her family of five. 
During the Vietnam War, Jay served with the Marines—coming in close contact with Agent Orange. After fighting a battle with cancer and winning, Jay now serves his fellow veterans every week.
Gabriela started coming to Westside Food Bank’s Mobile Pantry in January. She comes every Friday to get food and says this saves money for other essential needs.
After being homeless for a couple of years, he was injured in a hit-and-run accident, which left him sleeping in his wheelchair on the streets at night. While working with a local nonprofit to find his forever home, Dennis relies on several Westside Food Bank partner agencies to put food on his table. 
When Candy found herself without an income to pay for things like rent, utilities, and groceries, she turned to Nourish LA, one of Westside Food Bank’s partner agencies while looking for a new place of employment. 
When their father’s work started to drop, Andrea and Sofia, sisters with a 10-year age gap—Andrea is 18, and Sofia is 8—turned to Westside Food Bank’s free Mobile Markets to gather food for their family of six.