Hundreds of volunteers honor King’s legacy by helping OC food bank mission

“Not a day off, but a day on.”

That was the approach for Martin Luther King Jr. Day at the Orange County Food Bank in Garden Grove, where more than 900 volunteers packed hundreds of boxes of canned goods that will go out to seniors across Orange County on Monday, Jan. 19.

The annual event honors the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and reflects the holiday’s status as the only federal holiday observed as a national day of service.

About 250 churches, shelters, soup kitchens, family resource centers and other community organizations rely on the food bank to distribute supplies to residents, said Orange County Food Bank Director Mark Lowry.

The two largest groups served are seniors on fixed incomes and the working poor, he said. A smaller portion of recipients are homeless, and many live with disabilities.

About 250 volunteers were scheduled in each shift, cycling in throughout the day. Working in assembly lines across several rows, volunteers filled food boxes, making up part of the roughly 25,000 boxes distributed to Orange County seniors each month.

Santa Ana Mayor Valerie Amezcua, who volunteered with her husband, said she wanted to help the community and highlighted the food bank’s partnership with her city. About 80,000 Santa Ana residents rely on food assistance, she said.

“I’ve been volunteering here at the OC Food Bank since I was 12,” Garden Grove City Councilmember Ariana Arestegui said. “This has been a wonderful tradition for the last several years, coming here with Key Club and now as a council member, and seeing so many other members of the community continue the tradition. It really feels like a full-circle moment.”