On Wednesday, August 2nd, 2023, the B & G Club of Greater Oxnard and Port Hueneme (BGCOP), and Food Share of Ventura County, recently accepted a $110,000 donation from SoCalGas. The donation will provide over 400 number of families in need with grocery store gift cards and healthy food boxes. This year they were able to provide 100 of the youth with backpacks and $25 grocery cards to the Fillmore Club. Above, B & G Club of Santa Clara Valley Board of Directors: Caitlin Barringer, Program Manager for Food Share, Jan Marholin, CEO of BGCSCV, and Maria Ventura, Senior Public Affairs Manager for SoCalGas. Photos courtesy Boys & Girls Club of Greater Oxnard and Port Hueneme.

OXNARD, CA – August 2, 2023 –

The Boys & Girls Club of Greater Oxnard and Port Hueneme (BGCOP), and Food Share of Ventura County recently accepted a $110,000 donation from SoCalGas which will provide hundreds of Ventura County youth and their families with nutritious meals.

The grant to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Oxnard and Port Hueneme and Food Share of Ventura County is one of several donations to local charities as part of the company’s Fueling Our Communities initiative to address food insecurity. This donation will enable clubs across Ventura County to host events that will provide over 22,362 meals and healthy cooking demonstrations to address hunger in our community.

“We are excited to partner with the Boys & Girls Clubs and Food Share to provide our neighbors with meals and fresh produce,” said SoCalGas Senior Public Affairs Manager Maria Ventura. “SoCalGas is proud to partner with these incredible organizations who will not only provide food to families in need but empower kids with the knowledge and skills to eat healthy.”

Community leaders, such as Ventura County Supervisor Vianey Lopez, will attend and present at the events to share their favorite healthy recipes with young people.
The donation from SoCalGas will provide 400 $25 gift cards to local grocery stores and a Food Share healthy food box that families can cook at home using one of the recipes the children learned at the event.

“We know that being active and having access to healthy meals translate directly into successful days at school,” said BGCOP CEO Erin Antrim. “We appreciate the investment that SoCalGas has made to ensure that our club members and their families start the school year on the right foot. By addressing food insecurity and investing in our community, SoCalGas is making sure that great futures start here.”

“We appreciate the commitment to our Fillmore community from both SoCal Gas Co. and Food Share,” said Boys & Girls Club of Santa Clara Valley CEO, Jan Marholin. “Being able to provide 100 of our youth with backpacks and a $25 grocery card is an investment in our local youth and community. We send a huge thank you to these companies.”
A very special thank you to everyone that will be in attendance, especially Anne Thille, Youth Nutritional Expert, & Ventura County Behavioral Health, in support of the youth of the Santa Clara Valley.

The Clubs and SoCalGas will also hold Fueling Our Communities events were held August 3rd at the Fillmore Clubhouse before moving to the Reiter Family Youth Center in Nyeland Acres on August 4th, the E.J. Harrison Center in Saticoy on August 7th. The largest event will be on August 9th at the Martin V. Smith Youth Center In Oxnard.

SoCalGas’ Fueling Our Communities initiative began in 2020 as a collaborative effort between SoCalGas and five regional nonprofits in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. During its first summer, the program successfully provided more than 140,000 meals to 40,000 individuals from underserved communities across Southern California.

SoCalGas is expanding the impact of the 2023 Fueling Our Communities initiative by allocating $4 million, the largest commitment to date, to new and existing partnerships with food banks and nonprofits throughout SoCalGas' 12-county service area. This expansion will primarily focus on serving families and seniors in need, providing vulnerable populations with food support that is so needed.

About SoCalGas
Headquartered in Los Angeles, SoCalGas® is the largest gas distribution utility in the United States. SoCalGas delivers affordable, reliable, and increasingly renewable gas service to over 21 million consumers across 24,000 square miles of Central and Southern California. Gas delivered through the company's pipelines will continue to play a key role in California's clean energy transition—providing electric grid reliability and supporting wind and solar energy deployment.

SoCalGas' mission is to build the cleanest, safest and most innovative energy infrastructure company in America. In support of that mission, SoCalGas aspires to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in its operations and delivery of energy by 2045 and to replacing 20 percent of its traditional natural gas supply to core customers with renewable natural gas (RNG) by 2030. Renewable natural gas is made from waste created by landfills and wastewater treatment plants. SoCalGas is also committed to investing in its gas delivery infrastructure while keeping bills affordable for customers. SoCalGas is a subsidiary of Sempra (NYSE: SRE), an energy infrastructure company based in San Diego.

For more information visit socalgas.com/newsroom or connect with SoCalGas on Twitter (@SoCalGas), Instagram (@SoCalGas) and Facebook.

About the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Oxnard and Port Hueneme
Since 1954, The Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Oxnard and Port Hueneme’s mission has been to inspire and enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, responsible, and caring citizens. A member of the national Boys & Girls Clubs of America, The Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Oxnard and Port Hueneme (BGCOP) are an important community resource for positive development for youth ages 6-18 years old, particularly those in underserved areas. BGCOP operates 22 clubs; each provides a safe, nurturing environment where staff build strong mentoring relationships with youth to inspire them to believe in reaching ever-higher goals.

About Food Share of Ventura County

Hunger in Ventura County

1. An estimated 1 in 4 people in Ventura County experiences food insecurity, meaning that they are without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.

2. Since April 1, 2020, and the start of the pandemic, Food Share has held 1000+ emergency drive-thru food distributions, distributing more than half a million food boxes. These distributions are a supplement to the ongoing work of Food Share’s 160-strong pantry and agency partner network.

3. 93 cents of every dollar donated to Food Share is invested in our hunger-relief programs and services.

4. For every dollar donated, Food Share is able to provide 3 meals.
The level of need for food in Ventura County is of historic proportions. The good news is that Food Share is ready and prepared to meet that need. With the continued support from our community, NO ONE in Ventura County needs to worry about going hungry.

For all the latest information on where to find food [foodshare.com], how to volunteer [foodshare.com], and how you can support Food Share with a monetary donation [foodshare.com] visit: www.foodshare.com [foodshare.com]
Download Food Share’s new app, available for free in the App Store and Google Play by searching “Food Share of Ventura County.” Visit: foodshare.com/app/ [foodshare.com] for details.
Follow Food Share on Facebook [facebook.com], Twitter [twitter.com], Instagram [instagram.com], and YouTube [youtu.be] and tag posts #WeFeedVC

2023 Honors and Awards for Food Share

• Food Share is honored to have been named by the Pacific Coast Business Times as one of the Best Places to Work on the Central Coast [pacbiztimes.com] 2023. This is the third consecutive year that Food Share has been named.