On Wednesday, May 5, Los Angeles County and Los Angeles Regional Food Bank provided Valinda Regional Drive-Through Food Distribution to give 1,600 families boxes of food. With food boxes worth about $75 to $100 each, the event provided free food to anyone in need during the COVID-19 crisis.

Los Angeles County is mobilizing public agencies, nonprofits and volunteers to provide free meals or food to the people in the difficult conditions at this time. The May 5 food drive was supervised by Hilda L. Solis, member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, 1st District.

President and CEO of Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, Michael Flood, said, “Today, we prepare to provide enough food for 1,600 families living in this region, helping them to overcome difficulties during this critical time fighting against COVID-19.”

By 8 a.m., hundreds of vehicles were already lining up for more than one mile long from Walnut Avenue to Francisquito Avenue before the event started. The street’s side-parking around the church was cleared from 5:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. — leaving room for the waiting cars. Los Angeles Police Sheriffs assisted the traffic control of over a thousand vehicles around the site.

Boxes of food were piled on the site, with groups of working staff standing at 10 service spots. The workers loaded the food boxes to each trunk of the vehicle so residents did not need to exit their cars, to make for a quick and efficient pickup. The process to load each vehicle was around a five minutes

Florencio Briones, Senior Field Deputy Office of L.A. County said, “We feel very gratified to help the people of the community, especially in this difficult time, providing them free food they need since many people lost their jobs in L.A. County.”

Ryan Serrano, the assistant from the same office of L.A. County, introduced this drive-through mainly to benefit the residents of West Covina, La Puente, Walnut, Industry, El Monte, Azusa, Irwindale, South El Monte, Valinda, South San Jose Hills and other neighboring unincorporated areas.

“We hope more people living in the community who know of our event come to get the free food for their families,” he said.

A couple, Pingan Zhen, 71, and Shuiying Lin, 69, living in the community, felt happy and grateful to get the free food. Because of the pandemic, both of them lost their jobs, and this food
was very important for them.

“We get not only the food, but also the hope,” Shuiying Lin said.

The Valinda Regional Food Distribution went smoothly with all the hard work with the residents cooperation. David May, Director of Marketing and Communications of Food Bank Los Angeles Reginal, said about 80 people were working together for this event. This included 20 Food Bank staff, 35 Los Angeles County staff, more than 10 Los Angeles Sheriffs and a handful of enthusiastic volunteers. The event ended around 12 p.m. and another was hosted on Wednesday, May 12. There are no requirements for receiving food boxes and boxes will be given to anyone who drives by to St. Stephen Baptist Church in La Puente.