400 MILITARY FAMILIES RECEIVE FOOD AT SWC DRIVE-THRU

Photos By Colin Grylls / Staff

Answering Courage’s Call—Veterans’ Resource Center Coordinator JD White directs traffic at a drive-thru military food distribution event hosted by Southwestern College, Courage to Call and Feeding San Diego on April 25.

By Colin Grylls

Underneath a bright white cowboy hat that matches his white pickup truck, Veterans’ Resource Center Coordinator JD White exudes toughness.

The burly veteran who spent 20 years in the Marines wore a mask to cover his mouth, but his long beard couldn’t be contained. It split the difference between his chin and the words “Courage to Call” scrawled on the chest of the camouflage shirt he and other volunteers wore at Saturday’s drive-thru food distribution for military families at Southwestern College.

“I’m not a person that normally cries,” White said, “But after this event when I got home and just thinking and looking at the pictures, it made me kind of tear up just thinking about the 400 families that we were able to help put food on the table.”

Courage to Call, a program of Mental Health Systems of San Diego, hosted the event and Feeding San Diego supplied the food. Southwestern provided the parking lot while SWCPD and Chula Vista Police directed traffic.

Originally slated to begin at noon, volunteers began passing out food at 10:35 a.m. with 100 cars already lined up on a day that topped 80 degrees.

“Courage to Call didn’t want any of the perishable foods to go bad,” White said. “So they held off as long as they could, and then they made the call to go ahead and start delivering the food to the people, some of whom were waiting (since) I think about 8:30 in the morning.”

Although the VRC and Courage to Call have partnered for food distributions in the past, COVID-19 changed how the process worked.

Instead of allowing attendees to enter a room and pick out what they wanted, bags were prepackaged. Cars entered campus at the H Street entrance after drivers showed their military ID, then lined up in what little shade the houses on the southeast edge of campus could provide.

Once they reached the front of the line, they were directed to one of 10 distribution stations split into two rows. Drivers then opened their trunks and volunteers placed two bags—one containing perishables and one containing non-perishables—directly inside without touching the car to prevent the potential spread of germs.

It was the first time Courage to Call ran a drive-thru distribution. Outreach specialist William Felty said the event ran smoothly.

“Couldn’t have went any better,” he said. “We were safe, no one got hurt. Everyone got served that came through. We had more clients, we had more folks in need than actually food, so the need is there and we’re trying to help fill it.”

White said it helped that so many volunteers showed up.

“They didn’t know how many volunteers that they were going to have,” he said. “And I think they got triple the amount of volunteers they thought they were going to have.”

Maybe the turnout shouldn’t have been a surprise. Courage to Call Program Manager RanDee McLain said the military holds a special place in the volunteers’ hearts.