Monday, December 28, 2009

CALL Primrose Center


Call-Primrose Ctr

CALL Primrose is a small food pantry located in a 100 year old house in Burlingame, California that serves clients in need of food south of San Francisco on the mid- Peninsula. This year, with the economy being as such, there is a much higher demand for food assistance.

I started volunteering at CALL Primrose in April this year filling in here and there as needed. I found out I was needed indeed and now put in anywhere from one to sometimes three days a week.

December 22nd was the day that clients could get an extra bag of food for the holidays. 253 individuals or families had signed up and had been approved. When I arrived that morning, the line was all the way down the street. It was a clear, but freezing cold day. Some people arrived as early as 6:30 a.m. It took nearly six hours to give everyone their food.

Everyone received a grocery bag of food, including a chicken, a $20 gift card to Safeway, plus a Christmas stocking. The families with children were able to pick out new toys for their small children and received gift cards to Target if they had teenagers.

Executive Director Mary Watt surveying the line from the front porch. All I can say is that this woman makes things happen! She is such an inspiration to me and I always tell her there is a special place in heaven for her!

My dear friend Annette with her son Spencer. They worked so hard bagging up over 200 boxes of groceries along with my son Alex. Although Spencer and Alex just got home for Christmas break from college, they managed to get out of bed early and put in their time.

Alex was also the doorman for a while.

Co-worker Linda all festive in her Holiday gear. She has been volunteering at CALL for several years. Her job was to hand out the Christmas Stockings all filled with toiletries, socks or scarves, etc.

It was a great day! There were so many volunteers to help on this day, from senior citizens to high school and college kids. CALL Primrose gave out an extra box of food at Thanksgiving and will also again for Easter. Normally, a client can come in twice a month for groceries, so to have that extra during the holidays really helps.

CALL relies on the generosity of the local community for donations of food, volunteer time and financial support. Second Harvest Food Bank also is a large source and delivers food once a week.

To learn more about CALL Primrose click here. To read an article in the San Mateo Daily Journal about CALL, click here. To make a donation, click here.

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