Food Pantry Will Honor Bread Donor

Pacific Pride Baking Co. has donated about 250,000 loaves of bread over the last five years to the Jehovah Jireh Food Pantry in Camarillo.

That is about 1 million pieces of toast or 500,000 sandwiches a year that the food bank would otherwise not have been able to offer.

With day-old bread usually running the pantry about $1 a loaf, the Oxnard depot manager for Pacific Pride has saved the pantry about $50,000 a year.

Cecelia Rexford, who runs the Jehovah Jireh pantry, will honor James Clifton for his donations at 9:30 a.m. Sunday at the Camarillo Community Church, which sponsors the pantry.

Clifton began donating the bread, which would otherwise be sold to feed hogs and chickens, after being asked by someone from the congregation.

“There’s so many needy people out there that have circumstances beyond their control,” said Clifton, who said his company gave him permission to donate the bread. “It’s nice to get a helping hand.”

Rexford picks up the bread about 4:30 a.m. Fridays and then distributes it--along with cereal, fruit and vegetables--to 65 to 70 families, or about 250 people, each week at the Mobile Avenue pantry.

Most people who receive food from the pantry work in low-paying jobs rather than depend on the government for financial assistance.

“The food pantry is vitally important,” Rexford said. “There’s many people who would probably go very hungry if we weren’t here.”