“Love all, serve all.” 1 million meals served!

All About The Sik’s Center of Orange County

The Sikh’s Center of Orange County Food Pantry started in May with the Sikhi concepts of Seva and Langar.  In this time of food insecurity during the pandemic, the Orange County Sikh community realized they needed to step up and help out their neighbors.  Each Saturday from 8:30 am – 11:00 am, anyone in the community who is in need of fresh produce and other items such as cheese, rice, bread and cereal can drive through and get free food. Each weekend they serve on an average 2,000 – 2500 families. This Saturday they estimate that they will reach 1,000,000 million meals served! Just imagine how many people they have helped over the past couple of months and that is why giving back is one of the most beautiful things a human can do during their time on this planet.

My Experience Volunteering

My mom was driving one Saturday morning and saw a line of cars that went for blocks and blocks. She soon discovered that it was the SCOC food pantry and called me to tell me about it. I had never heard of this center before but met a Sikh a few months ago who taught me a little bit about the religion so I thought it would be a beautiful experience to volunteer and learn about Sikhism.

As soon as I arrived at 7:30 am, I was greeted by so many kind and friendly members of the center. I checked in, got a bright orange vest, gloves, and assigned to station 6. There were women serving breakfast at the center’s outdoor kitchen for all of the volunteers which I thought was extremely thoughtful and signifies how beautiful and giving Sikhs are.

After eating breakfast, I had a woman ask me how tall I was (this happens on a daily basis since I am 6 ft tall) and after spending a couple of minutes talking, she graciously gave me a tour and taught me more about the Sikh religion.

Before the cars started rolling in, one of the volunteer leaders thanked all of us for donating our time and prayed for us and then we got to work. My volunteer duties for the day were holding a sign to help patrol cars, waving and dancing, packing the trunks of vehicles, and putting items inside cars since I already had COVID-19 and have the antibodies. There were so many different nationalities of people that came through the line. We even had police come and I helped packed their cop cars.

What I loved the most about volunteering at SCOC Food Pantry is how they really make sure their volunteers are well taken care of. It felt like being a part of a family which is something I miss living in the wildlands of Los Angeles.

The cars start rolling in at 8:30 am, you are packing cars non stop and then at 10:00 am they give you a 10-minute break where they served fresh fruit and then after we were finished around 11:30 am they served fresh orange juice, lunch and gave me a bag of fruit to take home to my mom. It was truly a beautiful way to spend my Saturday and I highly recommend to anyone in the Orange County area.

Here is the link to sign up to volunteer –  tinyurl.com/scocvolunteer

Also, to learn a little more about the Sikh Center of Orange County, I found this article on Los Angeles Times – click to read it “Sikh Center of Orange County opens doors to all for historic anniversary celebration”

“To give your best is to receive the best.” Raymond Holliwell