With high gas prices and inflation approaching double-digit gains year-over-year, San Diego's neediest residents were relieved to hear that a free food distribution was planned Tuesday morning at Sports Arena, known these days as Pechanga Arena.
“Pechanga Arena was the very first iconic San Diego venue to open their parking lot to Feeding San Diego’s Together Tour,” Feeding San Diego's chief strategy officer, Bob Kamensky, is quoted as saying in a news release sent out on Monday. “These food distributions support the rising number of San Diegans that have found themselves in need of food assistance during the pandemic.”
According to Feeding San Diego, those who pre-registered and attended the event received 50 pounds of food, or 100 pounds for a family of four or more, as well as info on future distributions close to where they live.
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Tuesday's event, which started at 10 a.m. and ran till noon, was the latest in a series of events dubbed the Together Tour and will be the 18th iteration in the arena's parking lot since the pandemic began.
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Officials said about 800 recipients were helped on Tuesday.
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“We are able to utilize our parking lot for a streamlined queueing and distribution operation that is efficient and easy for both the recipients and the Feeding San Diego staff and volunteers," Pechanga Arena San Diego GM Tadlock, said in Monday's news release. "It is a great community service use of the space, scheduled at times that are not impacted by our other ongoing event activity.”
More than 11,000 families — nearly 40,000 people — have been helped by the Feeding San Diego events outside Pechanga Arena, according to officials, who said that amounts to roughly 600,000 pounds of food, or about 1.5 million meals
