WHO // Keller Williams Realty x Solis Team x Got Your Back, San Diego

WHAT // Annual food drive to collect food for GYBSD: Got Your Back San Diego is a weekend food assistance program for children attending San Diego County schools, whose main source of nutrition is cafeteria food Monday through Friday but, apart from school, lack a reliable food source on Saturday and Sunday. As a result, many of these children must endure entire weekends with little to nothing to eat.

WHERE // Ralphs Oceanside: 101 Old Grove Rd, Oceanside

WHEN // Thursday, May 12th from 9am - noon


Learn more about ‘Got Your Back, San Diego’, here.

 

High-priority food list:

  • Canned goods: soup, chili, chef-boyardee, canned meat/tuna, spaghetti-o’s

  • Hygiene products: toothbrushes, feminine care, bars of soap

  • Peanut butter (small size)

  • Crackers (small, 14oz)

*No glass please

Can’t make it on Thursday but want to help? Venmo us and we will purchase items needed! Click here to make a Venmo donation.


As a food provision charity there are two things that are critical to our survival, food and money to buy food. Food drives are an integral part of our growth strategy, but the way we store and deliver food presents a unique set of challenges. For example;

  • Because food is stored in a non-refrigerated warehouse, only nonperishable food items can be used.

  • The backpacks we use are smaller than the standard size backpack and have to hold six meals. Single serving size items are always the best.

  • Single serving drink items must be shelf-stable also (not requiring refrigeration).

  • We cannot use any food item that comes in a glass container.

  • We try not to load kids up on sugar so, when possible, healthier, low sugar snack items are preferred.

​Also, when doing a food drive it is better to focus on 1 to 3 items. A common occurrence is for donors to give “one of these and one of those”. But  when you’re feeding 500 children 6 meals every weekend, sorting out one-zies and two-zies can be quite challenging. Every backpack has 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 2 dinners, and a few snacks. Multiply that by 500 backpacks! Every weekend we need 1,000 breakfasts, 1,000 lunches, 1,000 dinners, 2 to 4 thousand snacks. Every school year we need 132,000 meals, that’s 44,000 breakfasts, 44,000 lunches, and 44,000 dinners. That many meals is much easier to manage when food drives focus on a few specific items.