Our Round Up! campaign began last week. Many shoppers have committed to rounding up their total bill to the nearest dollar, as a donation, throughout the holiday season. It’s not too late to start. All monies raised will be used to buy fresh winter fruit and vegetables for our two local food pantries, the IFC and OCIM. (Read more here.)
If you’re not familiar with OCIM, read about their important work below. We profiled the IFC last week.
Orange Congregations in Mission (OCIM) is a nonprofit run by member congregations, volunteers, and staff, that’s been helping Orange County residents during crisis situations for 30 years. Programs include Meals on Wheels and Samaritan Relief, which runs a food pantry and helps people pay rent and utility bills.
Clients come to the food pantry through referrals, usually from Orange County Department of Social Services but also from school social workers and others. OCIM gives each client several bags of groceries, including nonperishables, produce, milk, meat, and personal care items, which food stamps may not purchase. A client can receive food seven times per year; the pantry is intended as an emergency measure only. In 2015, OCIM assisted 9497 individuals (about 3800 households), over 4000 of whom were children.
Having OCIM in our community is a huge benefit. In addition to the people they help with donations, they are a resource of information. Kay Stegner, Manager of Client Services, fields calls every day from people asking how to get help of different kinds. Sometimes the calls are from neighboring counties. She points the callers to the available resources.
The OCIM thrift shop makes money to support the programs. There is also an annual Walk for Hunger each spring, and the Partnering for the Pantry tasting event in the fall. But OCIM is dependent on donations–both monetary and food–which are the lifeblood of the pantry.
“We want to let people know our program is here,” Kay says. “We count on the community being there for us when we need it, so that we can be there for others when they need us.”