Samaritan House partnered with VOICES (Volunteers, Outreach, Involvement, Community Events, & Services) to host a winter food drive from Nov. 4 through Dec. 6. 

VOICES is an organization that gives the youth of the Bay Area leadership opportunities. VOICES supports around 2,000 youth ages 16 to 24, including another 1,000 fostered children from Napa to Solano and Sonoma.

“People bring goods, and we bring it over to Samaritan House, which serves Belmont and then the local cities around it,” said Ann Marie, a worker for the Belmont Parks and Recreation office. 

“You can bring in nonperishable foods that you have extra of, and it goes to people,” said Sophie Hook, a recreation specialist at The Hideout.

With two locations in the Belmont Parks and Recreation office and The Hideout at the Barrett Community Center, people from all over Belmont and San Mateo County bring food together to help people in need. Non-perishable food such as canned corn, tuna, pasta, rice, and ramen noodles are recommended for donations.

“Every year we’ve done it, we filled up all the bins, and it’s been super helpful to serve the entire community,” Marie said.

According to Samaritan House, their “Drive-Thru Pantry supplies food boxes for low-income families who struggle to buy groceries. This option allows families to prepare fresh meals together at home.”

“Samaritan House does a food drive-thru, so it’s for families that also go to the drive-thrus,“ said Brandon Wu, a recreation specialist at The Hideout.

This food drive has been a significant success for the past two years, filling bins for those in need.

The annual food drive helps many San Mateo County families eat meals together at home and not go to bed hungry.

“VOICES is always trying to look for different opportunities like this, and we’re accepting until Dec. 5, so if anyone wants to bring stuff by, it would be very helpful to the people in need,“ Marie said.