Lisa Ely, founder of NourishNowCA, said she helps save roughly 6,000 to 8,000 pounds of food every week to prevent food waste and hosts daily pop-ups to distribute the food to whoever needs it.
Starting about six months ago, Ely wanted to turn her passion into something more and wanted to reach out to the community, through groups like the Santa Clarita Optimist Club, to help support her mission.
“So, my No. 1 focus is to ensure that nothing edible and good gets thrown away. So, I’m not a typical pantry,” Ely said.
The way she encourages people to come and grab food is by hosting pop-ups and posting to her social media letting them know where to go in the Santa Clarita Valley.
Recalling her busy Monday recently, she said she hosted four pop-ups before she went to make her presentation for the Santa Clarita Optimist Club’s meeting at Black Bear Diner in the evening.
“Everybody called me yesterday, so it was like I filled up the truck with about, I had 1,200 pounds of food to start with. I ran to West Creek Park in Valencia, gave it all out to the community in about 30 minutes and I literally was joking with everyone,” Ely recalled about her Monday. “(I said), ‘You got to empty my truck because I might get another call.’ And I literally, at noon, got another call to go rescue some other food that no one else was able to take. And then I popped up at another park.”
Ely said she had been wanting to do something like this for a long time, and after volunteering with other food banks, she started getting frustrated with the food waste that was accumulating. She added that food does not sleep; it is available seven days a week.
One thing she has learned through this process is the misconception of “best by” dates on food.
“The best by date on a package of bread, that doesn’t mean it’s expired, and we see that all the time. People are sharing stuff going, ‘Oh, this expires tomorrow.’ Well, no, it doesn’t. That’s really a date that’s about when the stores are going to rotate it … so, we teach people to really look at the food, look at the packaging,” Ely said. “If it’s been sealed properly and there’s nothing bad looking and it smells right, it’s edible.”
Dianne Hardway, treasurer of the Santa Clarita Optimist Club, said since basic needs continue to go up, having NourishNowCA helps ease the burden.
“But people have to go to work. If they don’t go to work, they don’t get paid. So, the gas is the primary thing, and they’re going to have to spend their money on it. So, if they can get the food, at no cost, or some things, no cost. You know anything helps, right? Getting everything together for salad and the vegetables,” Hardway said.
Carmen Gilmore, secretary of Santa Clarita Optimist Club, said that people need to put more good things out into the world because the community needs it.
