OB’s Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry – originally and legally incorporated as Ocean Beach Emergency Food – was formed in 1978 to fill a void recognized by an Ocean Beach Community Services survey. Folks experiencing what we now refer to as food insecurity, really had nowhere to turn in the Ocean Beach of those days. A coalition of local churches pooled their monetary and human resources, and the Clubhouse of the Ocean Beach Woman’s Club on Bacon Street gave Loaves and Fishes our first home. L & F then operated out of the church school building at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church on Sunset Cliffs Boulevard for several years.
The food pantry operated very differently in the early days. Folks had to sign up and were assigned a day to shop. The Loaves and Fishes was operated more like a little store, open three mornings a week. Our clients were literally served over the counter. Scarce groceries were pulled from the shelf and rationed according to the size of the client’s family.
Loaves and Fishes has operated out of the former home of Point Loma United Methodist Church at the corner of Saratoga Ave and Sunset Cliffs Boulevard for over twenty years. We currently try to accommodate all comers, which often totals in the several hundreds of hungry folks each Monday morning.
Donations and volunteers are always appreciated.