For more than 100 years the Armed Services YMCA has supported San Diego’s military community and families. The first location at 500 Broadway opened to military members in 1924. As the need for support grew, so did their programs. In 1970, ASYMCA San Diego moved into the middle of military housing in Murphy Canyon and Santos Road and led patient recreation programs at Naval Medical Center. Fast forward to 2020, when they now provided drive-thru meal distributions, virtual youth activities, and more to families during the COVID-19 pandemic. Last week at 8:30 AM our club joined 2 other Rotary groups at the Santos location and numerous YMCA volunteers, for food packing and distribution for the families of our military. We began by unpacking hundreds of crates of food donated by the Smart Food Foundation and the San Diego Food Bank, into bags of healthy grains, oats, rice and spices, as well as canned goods, oils and the like. By 9:30AM a long line of cars and pickup trucks had formed for the food distribution. We were ready. Depending on the number of families in each vehicle, we placed bags of grains and canned products as well large boxes of frozen meats and fresh produce into their trunks, beds of pickup trucks and/or back seats. By 11:30 AM, all the food had been distributed to nearly 300 families. A big shout out to our volunteers, Dave Weston, Susan Stevens, Cindy Goodman, David Shaw, Russ King, and Denise McGuire. who came out on a cold rainy morning to serve these military families.
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