As we near the end of October, we begin to look forward into the upcoming holidays. With times like this it may be hard to tell how our traditions and personal celebrations will be impacted; some may be only slightly affected, while others may experience a greater hardship. As a community we have the opportunity to lend a helping hand to our neighbors in need.
“There are a lot of people that are unfortunately in need,” Eric Santillan, owner of Grand Terrace Grocery Outlet said. “Probably more than we even know. We just want to make sure that we do our part to give back.”
From October 10th through November 20th the Grand Terrace Grocery Outlet is holding a Thanksgiving Food Drive for the Groceries of Love Food Pantry. While at the register, customers have the opportunity to donate $1, $5 or a miscellaneous amount to the food drive. The donation will go towards the food distribution on November 21st from 10:00- 2:30 pm in the parking lot at the Grand Terrace Grocery Outlet.
Grand Terrace Grocery Outlet is partnering with Community in Unity and the Church of Fire in Christ to hold this food drive. This marks the second partnership with Community in Unity, the first being the Independence from Hunger food drive in July.
“We just hope we can help families especially during this time of circumstances with COVID,” Eric said.
Eric and Priscilla Santillan decided to become the independent operators of the Grocery Outlet in Grand Terrace because of their love for the city and their deep roots with the community.
“We love that we have the freedom to provide the support that the community needs and to engage with our local partners,” Eric and Priscilla said in a previous interview.
“We’ve been blessed so let’s give back,” Eric said. “That’s what Priscilla and I always say there are so many businesses here that can do so much. It doesn’t take a lot. It just takes some partnerships.”
The founder of Community in Unity, John Braxton Jr. and his wife Kathy Williams-Braxton believe their partnership with Grocery Outlet will spark even more community partnerships and provide even more ways for communities to give back to neighbors in need.
“I believe once they see us doing this then they will want to partnership and keep doing it and then it gets bigger and bigger,” Kathy said. “That’s what I would like, is to see it grow.”
The Community in Unity in partnership with the Groceries of Love Food Pantry gives away food to anyone in need every third Saturday of the month from 10:00- 12:00 pm at the Church of Fire in Christ. John hopes their partnership with Grocery Outlet will be the first of many partnerships with local businesses.
“I think this is a start because we’ve been here for over 7 ½ years now doing this and we haven’t seen any store, take initiative and do what grocery outlet is doing,” John said.
Both Grand Terrace Grocery Outlet and Community in Unity are welcoming everyone to participate, even if you can’t make a financial donation, a donation of time is greatly appreciated.
John and Kathy explained that during their October 15th Truck to Trunk food giveaway where they gave away food to over 300 people from all over the Inland Empire, the people they met from grand terrace, were there to volunteer.
“The ones that came from grand terrace, they were coming to give their time,” Kathy said. “We were really grateful.”
“They really put their hands into it and went to work during the whole 2 hour process, so I was amazed,” John said. “That was a blessing to see.”
John and Kathy of Community in Unity and Eric and Priscilla of Grand Terrace Grocery Outlet both agree that everyone, from local businesses to residents, we can all do our part in giving back in any way that we can.
For more information on how you can help donate to the Thanksgiving Food Drive, visit the Grand Terrace Grocery Outlet and for more information about the Groceries of Love Food Pantry, please visit Community in Unity on Facebook.
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