Our Process

Local Coordinators are volunteers who have lived in the community we are serving all their lives. They know their community. All families who receive despensas are interviewed by their Local Coordinator using the Intake form. Each Local Coordinator is responsible for assessing the eligibility of the family and will review periodically to determine if the family’s circumstances changed. For this reason, the number of despensas we deliver are dynamic as some families may come off the list just as others are added.

If we are notified about a family in need, we ask for a phone number (if they have one) and at minimum, an address. Then we send it to the Local Coordinator for that community. They will interview the family to determine their circumstances and whether that family should be included on our despensa list.

Every community has a schedule for despensa deliveries. We partner with local grocers to provide the staples we include in monthly despensas. This is a standard list that was jointly agreed upon by our team of Local Coordinators.