For many veterans in Southern California, post-military service involves helping active-duty families deal with food insecurity and basic resource shortages across vast regional bases.
The grassroots effort is spearheaded by organizations like the San Dimas Rotary Foundation, which coordinates large-scale food and supply distributions across military installations in the region. Raymond Foster, began the initiative after discovering an on-base food pantry during a site visit five and a half years ago.
“It started five and a half years ago when a local women’s club reached out to our rotary club through our Masonic Lodge about having a fundraiser for Christmas gifts for enlisted families at Camp Pendleton and 29 Palms,” Foster explained. “I went out to do a site visit at 29 Palms and I found they had a food pantry on base.”
That discovery prompted Foster to recall his own experiences decades prior in the Coast Guard, where an E3 rank with a pregnant spouse brought severe budgetary strains when local housing costs outpaced basic allowance for quarters.
Federal data also shows that 22,000 active-duty families, 213,000 National Guard reservists, and 1.2 million veterans rely on federal food assistance.
Southern California presents unique geographic and economic hurdles for young service members. Installations such as the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center 29 Palms span an area the size of Rhode Island, while Fort Irwin sits in a remote desert location 45 minutes away from Barstow.
These isolated locations create severe secondary employment limitations for military spouses, compounded by high regional living expenses, including soaring costs for housing and gasoline.
“In Southern California if they’re at LA Air Force Base or maybe Coast Guard Base Los Angeles-Long Beach, housing is incredibly expensive, along with we’re paying $6.19 a gallon for gasoline,” Foster said.
When unexpected deployments occur, such as a reserve air refueling wing called up from March Air Force Base, families often struggle for months before finding established assistance networks. Rather than duplicating existing infrastructure, community volunteers work to bridge these gaps by coordinating with military family readiness coordinators, base chaplains, and the Armed Services YMCA.
While food drives remain a cornerstone of the operation—including a recent 54-foot dry van delivery transporting 30 pallets of food to 29 Palms in August—organizers emphasize that non-food essentials carry immense value for young households.
“We always say for people that diapers are currency,” Foster said, explaining that extending a family’s budget with essential supplies allows them to make better nutritional choices rather than relying solely on inexpensive, low-nutrient foods like ramen.
The distribution network relies on a rotating coalition of local service groups, including the American Legion, the Marine Corps League, and women’s clubs, operating behind a local Masonic lodge with up to 60 volunteers per drive.
“If you don’t care who gets the credit, a lot of stuff gets done,” Foster said regarding the collaborative spirit of the multi-agency food drives.
