TheUnion/news/14196115-113/community-juan-san-bank Braving a major winter storm bearing down on the Sierra foothills, San Juan Ridge residents, civic leaders, emergency responders and community volunteers pulled together Thursday at the North San Juan Community Center to distribute food to 118 families representing 258 people. “We’re so excited at how the community has come together,” said Ana Acton, president of the North Gold Senior Mountaineers, community center operators. “We’ve received a lot of really good food from the food bank — a lot of organic, nutritious food. This really speaks to the power of the local community coming together in the worst major storm in six years.” Acton praised the donations from Nevada County Food Bank, including a wide range of canned goods, cases of yogurt, frozen entrees and fresh potatoes and pears, as well as those from Ridge neighbor Mountain Bounty Farm, which offered fresh kale, chard and winter squash. “They totally stepped up to make this happen,” said Nevada County Assistant Chief Executive Officer Alison Lehman, referring to all the community members, agencies and volunteers who coordinated the successful effort. “The volunteers should be commended on bringing this together and the food bank should be recognized for providing food.” Thursday’s two-hour event was the result of a mass community rallying cry following reports of disturbances last month at a Thanksgiving food distribution event. The disturbances caused board members of the food bank to vote to discontinue their food distribution in North San Juan unless security concerns could be addressed. “The volunteers should be commended on bringing this together and the food bank should be recognized for providing food.” Alison Lehman Nevada County Assistant Chief Executive Officer Following the vote, a flurry of subsequent meetings resulted in a widespread determination to unify all concerned, stand strong and proceed with Thursday’s event. “I just wanted to make sure that folks got their food,” said Nevada County Supervisor Hank Weston, whose district includes the Ridge, as he visited the event Thursday. ”I want to figure out a way to fix it so that no problems happen again.” Also present was Nevada County Sheriff’s Capt. Jeff Pettitt, who chatted with volunteers as community members lined up to receive their food. “There’s so much stuff going on now in the county, with trees down and all,” Pettitt said, referring to the storm. “But I’ll stay around as long as I can.” Firefighters from both North San Juan Fire Protection District and Camptonville Fire Department also put in appearances Thursday. Acton said they were very helpful in loading trucks with food left over and taking it to the San Juan Ridge Family Resource Center for later distribution to residents. Firefighters also offered the use of an emergency generator, but the power stayed on through the event, so it was not needed, Acton said. “The North San Juan Fire Protection District supports the good works of the food bank and deplores that the actions of a few have negatively impacted the food bank’s activities on the Ridge,” said Ed Beckenbach, board chair of the North San Juan Fire Protection District, in a letter this week to the editor of The Union. “As Battalion Chief (Boyd) Johnson reported Wednesday at a meeting with the North San Juan Center and the food bank, we will work with the concerned parties to see how we can help them on an individual basis.” Diana Pasquini, community school liaison at the San Juan Ridge Family Resource Center, said residents can call the resource center at 530-292-3174 for information on hours of operation. Thursday’s community outpouring began as early as 7:30 a.m., when the first of 35 volunteers arrived at the North San Juan Community Center to set up, Acton said. At the same time, community resident Jason Evanoff and Lee Phillips of Ridge Plumbing volunteered to travel to the food bank headquarters in Grass Valley to load the food onto U-Haul trucks donated by Tacky But Nice U-Haul, a business located off Rough and Ready Highway. Sierra Family Medical Clinic also sent staff members to the center to provide assistance and information if needed, Acton said. Nevada County Food Bank sent staff members Jason Dall, Bob Dion and Larry Vieira to work with the Ridge volunteers on distributing food. By 10 a.m., when the event began, scores of residents were lined up with tickets at the adjacent “warming center” where chef Geli Duarte was serving hot soup that she had made that day, along with hot coffee and doughnuts provided by the food bank. Residents then took turns walking past the tables set up by volunteers and gathering their food. The distribution event ended at noon, after which time volunteers stayed to help in the cleanup. “The food bank and North San Juan volunteers will be working together for a sustainable solution,” Lehman said later on Thursday. “North San Juan should be a model for other communities in finding opportunities in a challenging situation.” To contact Staff Writer Keri Brenner, email kbrenner@theunion or call 530-477-4239.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 03:39:13 +0000
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