As of late March 2025, the Federal Government suspended approximately eight truckloads of essential, perishable food items promised to food-insecure families in Ventura County.
“No Matter What, We’re Here to Serve Ventura County” was the title of President and CEO of Ventura Food Share Monica White’s article addressing the impact of lost food on Food Share.
OVS teacher Fred Alvarez has been the leading faculty member managing Food Share volunteers for the past three years. He ensures that every freshman and new student attends a Food Share event at least once at the beginning of each school year.
Junior Class Representative Vincent Bell has been going to OVS since his freshman year. Since then, he has gone back to Food Share every year and speaks for most students when he says Food Share is his favorite volunteer opportunity offered by the school.
“Food share has broadened my view of the world and given me a better understanding of how people live outside of our OVS bubble,” Vince said.
Because of the close relationship OVS has with Food Share, it has made a mark on every one of the students. The work is different than any other service simply because of how personal it can be.
Oftentimes, a group of students will go and help give out the boxes they packed on volunteer trips earlier that year. The process of packing and distributing food is rewarding because students get to see smiles on the faces of those in need and truly observe how they made an impact on the Ojai and Ventura communities.
“Food Share has become one of our greatest service partners, and I think the work our students get to do there provides one of the most valuable perspectives a human being can have,” said Mr. Alvarez.
Food Share of Ventura County is a TEFAP (The Emergency Food Assistance Program) provider. TEFAP is a federal program that supplements the diets of low-income individuals by providing them with emergency food assistance at no cost.
“USDA provides 100% American-grown USDA Foods and administrative funds to states to operate TEFAP,” said the USDA Nutrition Service.
Because the USDA does a service by providing the food, they are taking on all costs. Unfortunately, the USDA took a big hit when the federal government made cuts this month.
“If anyone can take such a hard hit and recover, it’s Food Share,” said Mr. Alvarez.
One of the most inspiring things about Food Share is the amount of grit and perseverance they show. Because of how much Mrs. White and the rest of the Food Share representatives care about their business, they were able to ensure that nobody went hungry due to the loss of food.
“Food Share has a fantastic system in place to make this magic happen, but it requires a lot of goodwill to retain all the necessary resources to ensure people don’t go hungry,” said Mr. Alvarez.