Second Harvest receives donation of half a ton of guacamole

Guac is always extra, but there is no upcharge for Irvine’s Second Harvest Food Bank Orange County, thanks to a donation by Wholly Guacamole. The brand, which is part of the Orange-based MegaMex Foods family, is donating more than half a ton of fresh guacamole to Second Harvest to help families in need throughout the month of May.

The first shipment arrived on the morning of May 4, just in time for Cinco de Mayo.

“We are donating in the month of May a total of 1,200 pounds of our Wholly Guacamole product,” said Diana De Loza, director of marketing at MegaMex Foods, “and today we are receiving the very first delivery. So it is 300 pounds of our 7.5-ounce guacamole bowl.”

Shipments of Wholly Guacamole’s 100% Hass avocados dips will arrive weekly, for a donation totaling 2,500 packages.

Wholly Guacamole is donating a total of 1,200 pounds of its 7.5-ounce guacamole bowls to 2,500 families in Orange County throughout the month of May.

(Kevin Chang / Staff Photographer)

“We hope those will reach 2,500 households in the local O.C. community,” said De Loza.

Claudia Keller, chief executive at Second Harvest, said the donation is both timely and healthy.

“With Cinco de Mayo approaching everyone thinks of chips and guacamole. But for us, from a nutritional perspective, you can dip carrots in guacamole, bell peppers in guacamole,” Keller said. “So it is a wonderful addition for our families, a healthy condiment that we are thankful to get and thrilled to distribute.”

Second Harvest Food Bank is dedicated to ending hunger in Orange County. While it doesn’t distribute food to individuals at the Irvine location, the 501[c]3 nonprofit provides food to various Orange County charities and pantries for distribution, and the organization views distributing healthy food as an important component of that work.

“We are committed, especially post-pandemic, to providing consistent access, dignified access to nutritious food, making sure that those that need food whether it’s for a month or a year can count on our pantries to be the place where they get produce and milk and eggs and guacamole this week,” said Keller, “It really is a commitment we have made to our community because we believe it is the foundation for community health.”

Wholly Guacamole wasn’t just on hand to talk the guac either. Besides the donation, several Wholly Guacamole team members spent the morning volunteering at the food bank to help prepare food for distribution to Orange County families.

“The donation of time from the volunteers is wonderful, because volunteering is key to our operation here,” said Keller. “We couldn’t do our work without volunteers, so we are very grateful to MegaMex and Wholly Guacamole for the volunteers.”

This is the largest donation Wholly Guacamole has ever given, and De Loza said MegaMex Foods hopes to continue to partner with organizations like Second Harvest.

“We want to help out the community,” said De Loza. “This is the first of several other donations that we want to be a part of to ensure that our products can get to the families that are most in need.”

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