On Friday, October 2 Council Member Dr.G (Dr. Luis S Gonzalez) presented the October CITY TALK “Community Impact Award” to Eloy Sanchez, long-time resident of Colton, and a community icon who has devoted 30 years of service in coordination with Immaculate Church and benefactor, Mr. Bruno Gutierrez.
This award was established to recognize the great efforts that people make “behind the scenes” to make our community, the City of Colton, a better place. “For 30 years,” explains Dr. G, “Mr Eloy has led a collaborative effort of dozens of volunteers to provide food distribution for those who need support, and a very popular weekly “dinner hour,” to anyone who needs a hot meal.” Dr. G has attended many of his events, and occasionally “rolls up his sleeves” to pitch in. “This ministry is a blessing!” added Dr. G.
Since 1991, Eloy decided this type of community outreach was the right ministry in which to get involved. He actually started by helping the previous leader, Rudy Cordero, pick up bread for the church. Soon Eloy was making additional trips to the food bank and then became the coordinator for the program. The success of the program soon led to such increased bread requests, that the food bank decided to deliver the bread directly to the church.
When many individuals in the community become unemployed due to the lay-off at the orange groves, the manager of the food bank offered to send Eloy 75 boxes of food on a weekly basis to help support those families. These boxes often had canned goods, dry goods, meat, vegetables, and any combination of those items. Since those early years, the food distribution program has grown to 312 boxes a week, and serves over two-hundred cars a week. Last year, as Eloy recounts, “we gave out over half a million lbs. of donated food.” “We don’t deny anybody who comes for food, or ask too many questions,” says Eloy, as he continued to explain, “The food bank requires the number of people and the number of families served.” He then adds, “We are all God’s children, and we will serve them all.”
“He is a great choice for this award,” commented Dr. G, current City Council Member and well-known community advocate. He adds, “Our community is fortunate have awesome residents like Eloy Sanchez to lead programs that help the community,”
One final bit of information that Eloy shared was about the financial help that the program receives from Mr. Bruno Gutierrez, local resident and member of the church. Reflecting on Mr. Bruno’s generous contributions over the years, Eloy mentioned, “His donations included freezers, refrigerators, stoves, chairs, tables, trash containers and even a large box truck to pick up food bank boxes and food pallets. “This program would not be possible without his help,” commented Eloy.
For more information about CITY TALK, donation opportunities, volunteer opportunities, the trash clean-up program, or the online live-stream programs, contact
Dr. G @ 213-3730. Questions and comments are always welcome.
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