Community Service Project at the Coast Hill Church Food Pantry

Why is there a food pantry in Aliso Viejo? This question motivated Nobuko Kuroda and me to choose a community service project in Poverty, Power and Urban Life offered by Dr. Lowe. We selected the Coast Hills Church as our volunteering site and conducted observational research through volunteering in its food pantry. In total, we participated in the food pantry service three times, which accounts for around ten hours in total. After each visit, I kept a detailed journal about our experiences and observations during volunteering (see Appendix).

In this paper, I will apply my experiences and observations in a food pantry at the Coast Hills Church and stories from illegal immigrants to the theoretical frames I studied in the Poverty, Power and Urban class, which are culture of poverty, cultural boundary and social separation. Also, this paper is separated into two sections. The first section is about the food pantry service at the Coast Hills Church, and the second section is about the story of illegal immigrants I met during the food pantry service.