LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE, CA - Navidad en el Barrio has been a staple in the Los Angeles community since 1972. For a whopping 51 years, this program has made Christmas brighter for families in need. It was launched by Danny Villanueva, a former NFL kicker; students from UCLA; and a local Spanish radio station, and has since grown to serve parts of San Diego, Ventura, and San Bernardino Counties as well as greater Los Angeles.

In 2004, Allen Lund Company (ALC), well known in the industry for its philanthropic efforts, joined the effort.

“We began to reach out to produce customers in the hopes of adding fresh products to the dinner,” remarked Kenny Lund, Executive Vice President. “Along with fresh chicken provided by Randall Farms; canned beans; rice; tortillas; cheese; sauces, much of which is donated by Cardenas Markets and Cacique; and miscellaneous items, donors have donated broccoli, lettuces/salad mixes, carrots, potatoes, and citrus, just to name a few of the items. To keep delivering fresh and healthy meals to families, the Allen Lund Company is again coordinating the donations of fresh products.”

I’m not the only one who knows the generosity found within the produce community. ALC calls upon the industry to donate fresh products to help communities celebrate the holidays.

“These families need help, and as everyone knows inflation has been hard to absorb—especially at the market. If you can spare a few pallets of product, or dare I say a half truckload, that will make its way to families at Christmas,” Nora Trueblood, Marketing and Communications Director, expressed. “This is a personal labor of love for me. My dad, Mike Trueblood, was involved with Navidad en el Barrio for 40 years until his passing in 2021. His sole responsibility was to get the groceries! He was called ‘the bagman’ because when families saw him they knew he was the one always asking for donations to fill the grocery bags. I have been following in his footsteps for more than the last 25 years, and now they refer to me as the bag gal.”

Nora’s love for this program is infectious and it’s no wonder that she was able to get the ALC team on board.

“I first pitched getting ALC involved just with the transportation piece of the puzzle, and after a couple of years, the company was open to the idea of expanding to pursue food donations. Now, we provide volunteers at the warehouse and at various distribution locations around Los Angeles as well as transportation and donation efforts,” she shared. “It has become an amazing effort all the way around.”

This year, Navidad en el Barrio has 15,000 families to feed. Most of the donations over the years have been in California, however, Idaho, Arizona, Texas, and Colorado growers have all participated and all are welcome to donate! So long as coordinating pick-ups and transportation to Bell, California, is secured—that’s where the items are broken down and palletized for delivery to agencies throughout Southern California.

“The challenge is that we don't usually collect an entire truckload of the same item,” Nora added. “However, Grimmway Farms, Wonderful Citrus, and Wada Farms have donated truckloads of the same item so that every family gets that product. Otherwise, we have to divide the donations, but we always make sure that every family has fresh items.”

If you have fresh products to donate, we here at ANUK highly encourage you to do so! It’s an incredible opportunity to support an amazing program to get fresh food to families this holiday.

To learn more, click here.

Cheers to Allen Lund Company for continuing to champion this cause!

Allen Lund Company