Nancy's Project

We were founded by Nancy Costello of Monterey, who learned that local grocery stores were throwing away perfectly good food, while the farm worker families who make our food possible were going hungry. Starting in 1971, Nancy collected food and other donations and would drive to farm communities six days a week. Every December she organized the collection of food, toys and warm clothing for special Christmas Baskets delivered to over 1,000 families. She realized that collaborating with local generous stores and churches made it possible for her to keep food and clothing stacked on her flatbed truck. Nancy would rise at dawn to load her cargo and would spend the day making her deliveries in Salinas, Greenfield and the farmworker camps in the Salinas Valley. She continued her deliveries until May 2013, when at age 94 she turned the responsibility over to a group of volunteers. Since her passing in September of 2013, we have more than 50 volunteers that are now carrying on the work that she did.

Four mornings a week, we collect food at Carmel Safeway and PG Trader Joe's, and supplement it with other food and necessary items donated and purchased. Five days a week we deliver everything to farm worker families in East Salinas and Greenfield. In addition to food, we provide clothing, household items, diapers, feminine products, books and toys We also do annual drives for kids - one to fill backpacks and the other to give away kids' shoes in time for school.