Beachpoint Church food pantry accepting drive-up food donations

Beachpoint Church has been reaching out to the community by providing weekly food donations to local seniors and families in need.

Pastor Kim Staffieri said the church operates a food pantry and each week, residents are invited to drop off needed groceries and other items at the church. Specific food needs are listed and updated weekly on the church website, www.beachpoint.com.

“As the Safer at Home order started, Beachpoint began to explore how we could help those in need in the local community. We partnered the senior members of our church with younger adults who could pick up their groceries and prescriptions,” Staffieri said. “We then found ourselves partnering with the city to help other seniors in the city who needed this assistance.

“We also discovered there were many people surrounding our church who were having trouble getting groceries from the county's food banks before they ran out,” she said.

“On March 26 we began asking our members to drop off any extra groceries they could donate at a drive-thru food pantry drop-off. Since then we have been helping provide over 300 families with a week's worth of groceries.”

People in our church and in the local community are all chipping in each week with financial donations and pantry drop-offs, Staffieri said.

People interested in donating to this effort can go to beachpoint.com and click on the food pantry link. There is a list of times and items needed.

“We make it safe and easy for you to drop off your items. They can also donate to this cause by clicking on the COVID-19 fund link,” Staffieri said.

Residents can drop off food from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. every Tuesday in the church’s front parking lot at 17415 Magnolia St.

The church delivers food to about 300 people a week, including families in the Oak View neighborhood of Huntington Beach and to local seniors in Fountain Valley. Beachpoint partners with Branches, a church in Huntington Beach, which has also created a COVID-19 crisis relief fund.

“We go through about 85 pounds of ground beef a week,” Staffieri said, adding that the pantry accepts chicken, produce, rice, cereal, wipes and much more.

College students who are home because of the pandemic deliver the groceries throughout the community, Staffieri said.

“We just want to keep seniors safe in the city,” she added.