Monterey residents be ready! This coming Saturday, May 14th will be the National Association of Letter Carriers “Stamp Out Hunger” Food Drive. If you live in the city of Monterey, non-perishable food donations that you put out with your mail will come to The Salvation Army Monterey Peninsula Corps to support families right here on the peninsula. You may have already received a bag with The Salvation Army Red Shield logo on it. Simply put your food donations into the bag and put out by your mailbox. Your letter carrier will make sure the food gets delivered to us! If you didn’t receive a bag from the Post Office, that’s okay too. Just put your food donations in any bag and put out by your mailbox.

Don’t live in the city of Monterey? No problem. Each post office has decided where the food will goes. Most of the other local post offices are sending their food to the Food Bank of Monterey County that is located in Salinas. Either way, local families will still get the food they need.

What if Saturday doesn’t work for you or you want your food donations to come to The Salvation Army even if you don’t live in Monterey? That’s okay too. We always accept donations of non-perishable food items year round. You can drop off food donations to us directly at our Good Samaritan Center, located at 800 Scott Street in Sand City, between the hours of 8:30am and 4:30pm, Monday through Friday. We are closed for lunch from 12:00pm–1:00pm.

If you have additional questions about how The Salvation Army serves the local community, feel free to give us a call at 899-4911 or drop us an email at info@tsamonterey.com.

Rick Jacobs is a focused man. Despite being homeless and living a life he once thought was “going nowhere,” he managed to do something a lot of people in his shoes haven’t done. He graduated from college. On June 6, 2009, Rick graduated from Monterey Peninsula College with an Associates Degree and is continuing to take classes toward a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture, something he already has experience doing. A Vietnam Vet, Rick was given the opportunity to return to school through a Veterans grant and started taking just one class at a time. He has three remaining semesters at MPC and hopes to move on to Cuesta College to study graphics and design and eventually transfer to Cal Poly.

Rick is a client of our Good Samaritan Center and admits that he made some mistakes with drugs and alcohol that led to him being homeless. Not anymore though. He’s still homeless, but clean and sober. However, he says it’s not so bad because he at least has a truck to sleep in. “I’m happy.” Coming to the Good Samaritan Center has kept him encouraged and helped him to stay focused on the most important things. For him right now that is finishing school. When he’s done with school he hopes to become licensed and go to work for a firm, design some nice buildings and make a decent living.

In addition to accomplishing his own goals, he’s also helping to inspire others to get back on their feet and get an education in hopes of a good job. “If it inspires someone else, more power to it. Hopefully they’ll see me and say ‘If this guy can do it, I can too’.”

This week The Salvation Army Monterey Peninsula Corps was privileged to have a group from KidLead organize a food drive for us. The students, all enrolled in KidLead’s LeadNow leadership program, came up with the idea for the food drive themselves and contacted local businesses about collecting donations. They collected 3/4 ton food–nearly 1500 lbs! Once they delivered the food to our Good Samaritan Center, they helped hand out food boxes for local families and Senior Citizens.

“KidLead is a non-profit, educational organization committed to raising effective, ethical leaders, by focusing on them when they are still pliable.” For more information, visit their website http://kidlead.com.

Here is an article from the Monterey County Herald.

Below are some pictures and video taken at our Good Samaritan Center.

KidLead visits The Salvation Army

Homeless numbers up 71 percent in Monterey County (via The Salinas Californian)

The number of homeless people tallied in Monterey County has increased 71 percent over the past two years, according to a census released this week.

Call or email us today to find out how you can help fight homelessness on the Monterey Peninsula!

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The Good Samaritan Center spent the week of Valentine’s Day showing appreciation for our seniors and veterans! Below is a some pictures from those days and a video.

Valentine’s Day & Veterans