Hike for Hunger grows, helps fill Laguna Food Pantry

Sixty-five fitness buffs spent a recent Saturday morning hiking from Aliso Viejo to the Laguna Food Pantry to deliver 1,100 pounds of non-perishable food items, according to a news release.

Owners of Aliso CrossFit, a fitness center in Aliso Viejo, organized the 2014 Hike for Hunger on Nov. 8 as part of National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Month.

Participants filled backpacks with the food — about 20 pounds per person — and hiked five miles within Aliso & Wood Canyons Wilderness Park to the Laguna Food Pantry on Laguna Canyon Road.

Pantry volunteers greeted the group with drinking water, snacks, balloons, flowers and theme music from the film “Rocky.”

“This year’s Hike for Hunger brought out 20 more hikers than last year’s inaugural event,” Rick DiCarlo, who owns Aliso CrossFit with his wife Chelsea, said in the release. “We had such an enthusiastic response, we are considering making it a [biannual] event.”

The Laguna Food Pantry provides free fresh and nutritious groceries to low-income households.

Each weekday, the Pantry, at 20652 Laguna Canyon Road, distributes 2,500 pounds of groceries to shoppers in need.

The Pantry is open from 8 to 10:30 a.m. Monday through Friday, and is run entirely by volunteers. New volunteers are welcome.

For more information, call (949) 497-7121 or visit the Pantry’s website at https://www.lagunafoodpantry.org.

—Bryce Alderton

Twitter: @AldertonBryce

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