The Kiwanis Club of La Palma on Thursday recognized Walmart and several of the clubs’ members for their work in providing food for those less fortunate this past holiday season.
In recognition of the event, La Palma Mayor Peter Kim and Mayor Pro-tem Nitesh Patel attended the event to thank the club for its work in the community.
According to spokesman Mark Pritchard, the Kiwanis club applied for and received a $2,000 grant in late 2019 from Walmart to fund its annual project to feed families. It also funded re-stocking the food pantry at John F. Kennedy High school.
“We are extremely grateful to Walmart for their assistance in our annual holiday food project,” he said. Other members generally expressed gratitude to Walmart for their original decision to move into the community back in 2013.
The large retail space on La Palma Ave. was an eyesore until Walmart decided to utilize the space with a Walmart Neighborhood Market, stores. The market serves community needs but they are typically about one-third the size of the chain’s large supercenters, said one of the members.
La Palma Walmart store manager Daniel Cortes was among the delegation of four employees honored at Kiwanis breakfast, including, assistant manager Lisabeth Myers, Mary Ann Smith, MPA and Gabriella Neville, support manager. He thanked the club for the recognition and the community support.
Each year during holiday season, the Kiwanis distributes food baskets and gift cards to selected and screened families in the La Palma area, said Pritchard.
In addition, the club coordinates with the food pantry at Kennedy High School to make sure it is properly stocked. He said the club donated about $500 of the grant to the school’s food pantry.
Accordingly, JFK Principal Adam Hernandez and Myrna Wicks, the school’s family and community engagement specialist, were also honored during this week’s breakfast meeting.
The Kiwanis also honored two of their own members for their work on the program, including Richard Lutz, who coordinates for the club with the JFK food pantry and Keith Nelson, who works with the community to screen the families qualified for the holiday food boxes.