Newport Beach firm employees ‘Share the Harvest,’ pack 15K boxes for O.C. Food Bank

The Orange County fairgrounds in Costa Mesa were abuzz with activity this weekend as some 850 locals employed by investment management firm PIMCO packed 15,000 boxes of food and nonperishable items for area families in need.

Celebrating a milestone 15th anniversary of the Newport Beach-based corporation’s “Share the Harvest” event, participants set out to pack a record number of boxes, which will be distributed throughout the holiday season by Community Action Partnership of Orange County’s Food Bank.

Employees of Newport Beach-based PIMCO assembled Saturday in a “Share the Harvest” event at the O.C. fairgrounds.

(Courtesy of the Community Action Partnership of Orange County)

Employees Saturday worked in eight separate assembly lines, filling boxes with meal kit items, such as canned fruit and vegetables, grains and cereals and gift cards recipients can use to purchase their own protein to complete the meal. Other items for families included diapers, formula and toys.

Community Action Partnership O.C. teamed up with PIMCO Foundation on a related endeavor in 2019, unveiling Clementine, a mobile food trolley designed to deliver healthy foods, nutrition information and even diapers for young families living where produce markets are scarce.

“PIMCO has a big commitment to ending hunger,” said Food Bank director Mark Lowry, who attended Saturday’s event. “They are such a great example of a company that invests in the community in which they do business.”

PIMCO employees and their family members wait Saturday to fill one of 15,000 boxes for O.C. families in need at a “Share the Harvest” event.

(Courtesy of Community Action Partnership of Orange County)

Lowry said the “Share the Harvest” boxes will be distributed among the more than 225 charitable partners within a network of soup kitchens, churches and other charitable organizations in Orange County, where an estimated 400,000 residents experience food insecurity.

Although the food bank currently distributes food directly to more than 1,400 seniors daily and in 2020 provided 63 million pounds of food, serving 500,000 individuals monthly, the boxes provided by PIMCO will help expand that charitable footprint by another 15,000 boxes.

“That will help us bridge the gap, or divide, between some of the needs of the community and the resources we have available to address those needs,” Lowry said. “Its perfect timing — that’s 15,000 families who might not have had a special holiday gathering this year.”

Employees of Newport Beach-based PIMCO at the O.C. fairgrounds Saturday package 15,000 boxes of food and items for families.

(Courtesy of Community Action Partnership of Orange County)

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