10 (6)Public Comment
From: Lauren Torres
Sent: Tuesday, June 8, 2021 8:09 AM
To: Public Comment
Subject: FW: In Support of June 8th Council Meeting Agenda Item #10
Attachments: Modern Letter.pdf
From: AWood Gmail <
Sent: Monday, June 07, 202110:23 PM
To: Council <council@anaheim.net>; Lauren Torres <LTorres@anaheim.net>
Subject: In Support of June 8th Council Meeting Agenda Item #10
Dear, Honorable Mayor & Anaheim City Council Members
Please see the attached letter I have written in regards to Item 910: JMh for the June 8th Council meeting. Thank you for
you service, your time, and consideration of my attached.
Andrew Wood
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIAndrew Wood
Westminster, CA 92683
June 7, 2021
Dear Honorable Mayor & Anaheim City Council members
I am writing this letter to you as a request for your support of item:
#10 JMh - The "Anaheim / Love Anaheim Agreement for the BWA Job Opportunity & Skills
Development Program"
Since my family moved down to Southern California in August 2020 we have been serving as a family
at a mobile food pantry on Mondays at Jonas E. Salk Elementary School which is part of Magnolia
School District in Anaheim. This weekly mobile pantry is facilitated by VA (Vineyard Anaheim)
Compassion, a non-profit organization determined to bring hope and dignity to families experiencing
food insecurity across Orange County. During these times serving, our family has had the wonderful
pleasure of working alongside, and getting to know 3 very special members of the "Better Way
Anaheim" (BWA) team that have been faithfully serving there alongside us for the last 10 months.
These special individuals are Terrance, Scott, and Richard. Each Monday we work as a small, but
hardworking, team to help puttogether and distribute, in a drive -up fashion, a designated weekly
allotment of food for 350-430 families experiencing food insecurity from the city of Anaheim.
During these weekly mobile pantries, the help we have gotten from the BWAteam has been
instrumental in our success, and an anchor in our efforts to help those experiencing food insecurity.
Scott, Terrance, and Richard have showed up week after week and worked hard, been servant hearted,
and done it all with joy, smiles and willing hearts. Because our crew has often been small it has been an
"all hands on deck" operation that has required all of us to take on multiple jobs to pull it off in the
school's allotted time for the pantry. We would not have been able to accomplish this without these
amazing men (and recently women. About 3-4 months ago another member started coming to help
named Anne Marie who has also been a big help). As the Lead facilitator and manager for VA
compassion at this pantry I can't imagine losing the amazing help this team brings to our efforts at the
Salk mobile pantry. I am asking for the Mayor and Council Members to renew the BWA contract and
provide the opportunity for them to continue to serve alongside the Love Anaheim and VA
Compassion teams in our efforts to see our neighbors experiencing homelessness and/or food
insecurity continue to be shown, hope, dignity, and kindness. I hope we get to continue serving
alongside each other as we work together in writing a story of Hope in Anaheim, CA.
I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to serve alongside, work hard together with, and get to
know the members of this team. They as a team quite literally, helped keep this pantry going when our
volunteer numbers from VA needed the reinforcement they provided, Each week they showed up, I
knew the pantry would go smoothly, because having them there to help, it felt like each one of them
was worth 2-3 other volunteers each, because they worked so hard and worked together so well as a
team. In Washington where we lived before moving down here I was a Mechanical Engineer at a
composites company. Here I now work as a Manager at a local business. I would have no concerns
hiring any one of the members of this team as they have shown, and often times done more than what I
would ask of any of the employees I manage. I hope to be working alongside them in the coming
weeks and months and continue in our partnership and friendship with this great team.
Sincerely yours,
Andrew Wood - Salk Pantry Lead Facilitator