The 2025 government shutdown has become the longest shutdown in US history, leading to the cessation of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). As an affluent community, Coronado may feel unaffected by this, but members of surrounding communities have been hit hard. Around 3900 people in IB live under the poverty line, according to the World Population Review, and have been affected by the SNAP shutdown.<\/p>\n
The Imperial Beach Food Bank at the United Methodist Church is located eight miles from Coronado City Hall. Local nonprofit organizations led by the Coronado Rotary have banded together to help our neighbors, delivering food to the IB Food Bank. Patrick Starke is the committee lead.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an outgrowth of a longer-standing program that our Rotary sponsors. For the last four or five years, we, on a monthly basis, deliver food to the IB Food Bank,\u201d Starke said. \u201cThis year, […] we did it in an environment where the demand for both services is through the roof because of everything going on with the federal government and SNAP benefits being cut off. [IB has] a lot of junior-level enlisted folks that aren\u2019t getting paid much, if they\u2019re getting paid at all […] So there\u2019s a tremendous demand out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
The final major delivery occurred the morning of October 30. Suzanne Manuel, a former Rotary president, and Tess Ponton, who helps at the Bank, explained how the food pantry works. The donated food is organized in a back room by type. Visitors come once a week and are allowed one of each item. The Food Bank also offers donated clothing and free showers on Saturdays.<\/p>\n
Ponton said, beyond organized food drives, individual people can help, too. Volunteers are always welcome, and the most beneficial donations include socks, undergarments, meats, and peanut butter.<\/p>\n
LuAnn Miller was president when the District of Rotary had a food drive contest a few years ago. Over the course of a week, the Rotary collected donations. \u201cWhen I [first] came down here with this week of food, […] there was nothing on those shelves,\u201d Miller said. \u201cI think [Deborah, who ran the Food Bank] said they get, at that time, […] not that many deliveries. […] I took some photos, and then I went back the next week to Rotary to the meeting, saying, \u2018guys, look how lucky we are here in Coronado, and right there, there\u2019s this food bank, and there\u2019s the need.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Starke invited the heads of local organizations to encourage their members to bring specific foods each week, whether that be cake mix, macaroni, peanut butter, or canned vegetables. Starke accommodated drop-offs at his house to allow as many people as possible to contribute without taking time out of busy schedules. \u201cIt makes people feel really good to be able to do something for somebody else for no reason other than they know they\u2019re doing something good for somebody else,\u201d Starke said.<\/p>\n
Shannon Canu is Social Chair for the Coronado Floral Association as well as a Rotarian. \u201cWe were actually able to tap into our members. Between food donations or monetary donations, we put all that together to get the food together […] It really was the impact of our Coronado Floral Association members,\u201d Canu said.<\/p>\n
Coronado Floral Association is one of the many organizations involved in the event. Other organizations, including the New Republican Club, Coronado Democratic Club, Optimists, Emerald Keepers, and many more also contributed food. \u201cIt\u2019s easy for all of us to go into our own little groups and do things independently. But this is a great example of what […] multiple nonprofits on Coronado can do for another portion of the communities,\u201d Canu said. \u201cThe food drive really brought our members together and reminded us of the impact we can make.\u201d<\/p>\n
Starke, Manuel, Ponton, and Miller all encouraged CHS students to get involved. \u201cThis food, the way things are right now, probably won\u2019t last that long. […] We\u2019re hoping that that\u2019s what all these other organizations and churches […] or the schools [do]. Maybe not every month, but maybe every few months, do a campaign and bring it down here,\u201d Miller said. Many of the participating nonprofits offer internship programs, and Ponton was more than willing to collaborate with CHS students for food drives or deliveries.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are an awful lot of houses in Coronado that are second homes to people. But there are still a significant number of townhouses in Coronado. […] Coronado recognizes that it has to take care of its own, it has to take care of itself. There are people in Coronado who are income disadvantaged. Not many, but there are some,\u201d Starke said. \u201cBut our neighbors next door, even through IB, who tend to be an awful lot of military folks, it\u2019s a bigger issue down there. And I think that it makes the town realize, look, we can all come together irrespective of our political beliefs, our philosophical beliefs. […] We have the people power and the willpower to be able to come together to try to solve the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
VOL. 13, NO. 6 – Nov. 12, 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2025 government shutdown has become the longest shutdown in US history, leading to the cessation of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52801,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[33207,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-52800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-islander_times","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}