Tis’ the Season for Giving

Published December 23, 2020

In the True Spirit of Giving, Ventura Harbor Village Teams Up with Food Share

Tis the season for giving, and part of the holiday magic was evident as  Ventura Harbor Village hosted a Holiday CAN-Tree Food Drive for Food Share Ventura County this past weekend. The seaside activity allowed members of the community to share food with families in need this holiday season. Locals and visitors dropped off more than 1,000 canned goods and other food items. All were donated to Food Share, a non-profit organization, to help make the holidays bright.

As part of the one-day holiday collection, cans of food were festively stacked to look like two colorfully decorated holiday trees – one in true sea-theme with a mermaid tail topper, and the second decorated traditional red and green, topped with a gold tinsel tree. Visitors also got a chance to catch a glimpse and have a socially distanced visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus in their sleigh, handing out reindeer antlers to those who donated food items.

“It really is uplifting to see the community come together and support those families in need, and we far exceeded our goal for one afternoon in assisting Food Share Ventura County,” said Ventura Port District General Manager Brian Pendleton.

Since 1978, Food Share has been feeding the hungry in Ventura County. It all began when eight friends banded together to provide food to those in need under a bridge in Ventura, CA. The early philanthropic movement started in a family garage, quickly outgrew a donated fire station in Saticoy and now operates in Oxnard, CA with two warehouses with a combined 36,000 square feet.

Today, staff and volunteers distribute more than 17 million pounds of food, or more than 20 million meals annually through its 190 pantry and program partners. As Ventura County’s regional food bank, Food Share provides food for over 75,000 hungry friends and neighbors monthly. Food Share is a member of Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger-relief network of food banks, as well as the California Association of Food Banks.

In addition, visitors were able to “shop small” and take in some last-minute shopping outdoors from one-of-a-kind retailers, selling handcrafted items from homemade chocolate to handcrafted pottery, and enjoy delicious take-out meals from numerous harbor restaurants featuring seaside eats and treats.