Press Releases

APPLE VALLEY, SPRING 2020 – Those struggling to put food on the table during the COVID-19 pandemic will receive help after the St. Mary Medical Center Foundation and Providence St. Joseph Partnership Fund made contributions to local nonprofits that serve the community.

The combined investments total more than $40,000 and will be directed to the nonprofits, with a large portion of the funding allocated to High Desert Second Chance Food Bank.

Based in Hesperia, HDSC will utilize the contribution to purchase additional staple foods for local families in need. Every Saturday, the nonprofit distributes food from its warehouse to residents across the High Desert.

HDSC also operates an emergency food pantry and works with High Desert Food Collaborative, which includes nearly 50 nonprofits, community service providers and ministries that help the needy.

Since March, there’s been an increase in residents waiting in cars to enter the warehouse property where dozens of volunteers wearing face masks and gloves hand out boxes and bags of food, HDSC co-founder Greg Hunsaker told the Daily Press earlier this month.

“This support comes at a critical time when our typical donations from grocery stores have gone down due to statewide stay-at-home orders,” HDSC Executive Director Christina Keneti said in the news release. “We will now be able to purchase truckloads of food from the Feeding America Food Bank in Riverside to ensure we can meet the increased needs of families we serve.”

St. Mary Foundation is also providing support to the Victor Valley Community Services Council in Victorville to increase food deliveries to homebound seniors, and to the Los Angeles-based Food Forward to bring several truckloads of fresh produce to those in need in the High Desert.

“These investments are critical to supporting many aspects of the food system in the High Desert,” said Kevin Mahany, St. Mary Director of Community Health Investment. “As our community struggles through this pandemic, we are grateful to be able to offer support to make sure people have the food they need.”

St. Mary Medical Center Chief Executive Randall Castillo said, “While my top priority has been the safety and well-being of our caregivers and patients, we are fully committed to finding ways to support our community during this very challenging time. We take great pride in not only caring for our patients, but our community as well.”

Officials with the healthcare provider said the effort is rooted in St. Mary’s long history of serving those in need, as well as the charitable legacy of the Sisters of St. Joseph and Providence.

In the 1600s, the Sisters of St. Joseph were founded by Jesuit priest Father Jean Pierre Medaille who directed them to “go into the community and find out the needs, then find like-minded partners to meet those needs.”

Today, St. Mary Medical Center continues to follow this directive in how they, and their parent organization, Providence, serve the High Desert community.