Let’s be honest: if you’ve ever walked the campus of Spring Valley Community Church during the week, you’ve probably wondered—Why on earth do we run a food bank?
It’s a fair question.
After all, running a food bank means shopping constantly for supplies and bulk deals; converting classrooms into storage rooms; re-plumbing half the building to add a prep and wash sink; and running not one, not two, but four brand-new electrical circuits to power the refrigerators and freezers needed to keep everything cold.
It means watching a perfectly good window get cut out and replaced with a big roll-up door—just so pallets can make their grand entrance without taking out the drywall.
It means endless sweeping, mopping, sanitizing, sorting, lifting, bending, and hauling.
It means greeting the daily arrival of empty pallets that pile up by the trash bins out back. And it means politely ignoring the unmistakable aroma of the green-waste dumpster in August—you know, the one holding what used to be a very promising heap of celery before it turned on us.
It means 100 cars a day deepening the ruts in our already tired asphalt, or lining Olive Drive in a way that prompts our neighbors to ask if we’re hosting a surprise revival meeting.
It means picking up food from all across San Diego—sometimes across the whole county—and coordinating an army of volunteers who somehow show up cheerful, tireless, and faster than physics should allow. All of them volunteers. All of them giving their energy, sweat, and kindness away for free.
When you look at all of that, you might ask, quite reasonably:
What good is a food bank?
Well… everything.
Below is the good. The real good. The kind that makes every pallet, every mop bucket, every re-wired circuit, and every celery-related failure feel worth it.
1. It Feeds the Hungry
This is the obvious one—and maybe the most urgent.
Our country is not as food-stable as it once was. One in eight Americans relies on SNAP benefits to eat. And when the safety net is stretched thin, the network of local food banks becomes essential.
Food banks like ours—dozens across San Diego—fill the gap. They help keep families afloat when the cost of groceries rises faster than paychecks. They make sure children have fresh fruit and protein. They make sure seniors don’t have to choose between groceries and medicine.
This little food bank on Bancroft Drive helps people share in the promise of the “fruited plains and amber waves of grain,” even when the state can’t quite keep its promise.
Feeding the hungry is holy work. And it matters.
2. It Brings People Together
One of the great surprises of this food bank is not how many people need food—though that number grows every month—but how many people want to serve.
I get calls from all over San Diego. Retirees. Grandmothers. Military families with a single free day. Parents wanting their kids to learn the joy of helping neighbors. Working people finding one morning to give back.
And then there’s our local neighbors—the ones who drove past, saw the miracle happening, and decided to roll up their sleeves. They’ve been here ever since, smiling, laughing, sorting apples and stacking boxes, building community one grocery bag at a time.
More than one volunteer has told me:
“Serving at the food bank saved me from depression.”
And they mean it.
Because when you are here—when your hands are helping, your smile is seen, and your presence is strengthening someone else—you realize you matter. You’re needed. You make a difference.
In a world full of loneliness, isolation, and anxiety, the food bank is a place where connection is real and hope is contagious.
3. It Nourishes More Than Bellies
And perhaps surprisingly, this is the greatest good of all.
Ask any volunteer what good this food bank does for them, and they’ll tell you stories—beautiful, honest, vulnerable stories.
Some came because they “needed to get out of the house.” What they really needed was friends—and they found them.
Some came because they wanted to “give back.” What they discovered is that giving to others gives far more back to the giver—
“good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over,” just like Jesus said.
And then there’s me—a pastor who reluctantly said “yes,” even though I knew we didn’t have the budget, the space, the transportation, or the labor to do any of this.
But God provides what we cannot.
All He needs is the one thing He won’t supply for us: our “yes.”
Once we say yes, even with shaky faith, He meets us with daily bread, daily help, and daily miracles.
Just ask Terri Pumphrey.
Terri is tiny but mighty—a petite powerhouse who can heft 30-pound boxes like she’s tossing pillows. She’s the one who truly said yes to this mission. She shows up day after day, rain or shine, and prays for God to provide.
And He does.
Like the day we were nearly out of food—and right as she prayed, a truckload of frozen hamburger rolled up.
Or the day our core volunteers (mostly retirees) all called in sick—and without warning a dozen high school and college students poured in, ready to work, laughing and lifting as if they’d been born for it.
These are not coincidences. These are reminders.
God cares.
God provides.
God partners with us when we give Him our yes.
So… What Good Is a Food Bank?
Quite a lot.
It feeds the hungry.
It builds community.
It heals loneliness.
It lifts depression.
It gives purpose.
It restores hope.
It reminds us that God still moves, still provides, still multiplies, still surprises.
But maybe the greatest good is this:
A food bank teaches us that God does His best work when ordinary people say yes—and discover they matter more than they ever knew.
So…
Won’t you say yes to Jesus?
Come and see what He is doing.
Come and see how much you matter.
Come and see how your hands can bless and your presence can heal.
You’ll walk away with far more than you give.
Want to Volunteer?
We would love to have you.
Joseph’s Storehouse Food Pantry serves hundreds of families each week at:
Spring Valley Community Church
3310 Bancroft Dr, Spring Valley, CA 91977
Volunteer Hours: Monday–Thursday, 9 AM–12 PM (except holidays)
No experience needed. No paperwork required. Just show up with a willing heart.
When you arrive, look for Terri Pumphrey, our director. She’ll get you started and make sure you’re part of the miracle.
Thank you—and may God bless your “yes.”