Sunrise Christian Food Ministry Ramps Up Service to Sacramento County

CITRUS HEIGHTS, CA (MPG) – If you are looking for the food closet in Citrus Heights, first look for the large white cross on San Juan Avenue just past Greenback. Drive slowly, or you’ll miss the driveway. Tucked back off the road behind Advent Lutheran Church, is a destination for hundreds of residents and homeless alike five days a week, rain or shine.

The Sunrise Christian Food Ministry has been in Citrus Heights for 36 years. On March 19, 2020 when the stay-at-home order was issued in California everything changed for food distribution facilities all across Sacramento County. As a response to the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), this order changed the way food would be delivered to their clientele.

Because of the new rules for volunteering, only 24 of the 230 county agencies providing food for those in need in Sacramento County are functioning at this time. Many volunteers are over 65 years which means they cannot help now. Many food closets supported only by their congregations had to close. Those operating only one day a week or less closed.

In ‘normal’ times, 20 local places of worship provide food, financial donations and volunteers. Community service clubs such as Rotary, Lions and the Freemasons, along with churches, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and schools hold periodic food drives. Individuals are an important source of support. Some of the larger community service groups and individuals are still hard at work supporting their food closet but others are not able.

Fortunately, Sunrise Food Ministry has a broad base of support which allows it to remain open at this time, allowing them to pick up the slack left by the closures. It has been very challenging. Open 5 days a week, Sunrise had been previously serving 50-60 families a day, providing 2,400 pounds of food per day.  Today, they are serving 80-100 families, with many days especially during the second half of the month reaching 130 to 140 families or 300-500 people daily for five days a week.

Previously, food distribution at the Sunrise facility was limited to one visit per month by residents in certain zip codes. During the shelter-in-place order clients can get additional needed food a second time and are not limited by zip code.  

There is now no-contact client registration in the church parking lot. Volunteers have pre-packed hundreds of boxes daily with non-perishable items. Following registration drivers then drive up to the food closet door where workers load the boxes into their trunk, and when available offer them bread, desserts and other miscellaneous items from a table next to their vehicle. Each vehicle receives one box for every three family members.

According to Rocky Peterson, Director of Operations, since March 19, 40% of their clientele are new families affected by temporary or permanent unemployment, and school closures, meaning children are at home and families are now needing more food to meet their needs. Another change is family size.

Peterson said in an interview, “Homelessness has a whole new definition. It’s not the person walking in off the street.  It’s the person living in a garage or sharing someone’s back yard”. He added, “It’s also family size. Fifty-year-old kids moving back in with their 70-year-old parents, and bring in their own kids. The parents who were stable and often the only ones with a paid off home are now unstable, taking care of others.”

The influx of refugees is also an issue adding to the growing numbers, 15% every year since 2010.  There are also different cultures, with three generations living together being served. There could be as many as 12 members of the family.

Food and monetary donations come from different sources. Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization, networks and contracts with local stores, restaurants and other locations for daily pick-up by each food agency. Volunteer drivers pick up “past sell date” and other items, from their designated stores such as Costco, Walmart, Safeway and Food Max. The Sacramento Food Bank designates which food panties will pick up from which stores. Frozen meat is provided by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). Monetary donations are used to purchase canned goods.

Read more about the work and needs of the Sunrise Christian Food Ministry AKA Sunrise Food Closet at ‘sunrisechristianfoodministry.org”.