The Manhattan Beach-based Kinecta Federal Credit Union recently hosted its 48th annual Holiday Food Drive, donating meals to 1,000 Los Angeles-area families in need. 

The food drive, held at Jesse Owens Park in Los Angeles, provided each family with a bag of traditional Thanksgiving food items along with a $75 grocery store gift card to help complete their holiday meals.

“The holiday season is known as a time of giving, and each year Kinecta enthusiastically conducts activities to support the communities where we work and live,” said Latrice McGlothin, executive director of the Kinecta Community Foundation, in a statement. “As food insecurity rises amid the COVID-19 pandemic, we are delighted to make this holiday season a little easier for deserving families in need. We thank our employees, the community, corporate sponsors, members and individual donors for their support in helping to make our 2021 Holiday Food Drive a success."

During November, Kinecta collected monetary donations, raising over $55,000 from corporate sponsors, members, employees and individual donors.

The families, selected by Los Angeles area community organizations, lined up in cars to safely receive their goodie bags in a drive-thru environment. The event was staffed by more than 75 volunteers, including Kinecta employees, family, friends and vendors. They were joined by Congresswoman Maxine Waters, prominent Watts activist and Parents of Watts founder Dr. Sweet Alice Harris, and LA Galaxy forward Cameron Dunbar. (See video below.)

The food drive worked with numerous community organizations, including Al Wooten Jr. Youth Center, Athens Park Tiny Tots, Centro de Niños, Inc., City of Hawthorne Project Gobble, Community's Child, Drew League, El Centro Del Pueblo, El Nido Family Center, Epiphany Church El Monte, Good Faith Baptist Church, GRYD, Hawthorne President's Council, Jefferson Elementary, Jesse Owens Park Community, King/Drew Magnet Medical High School, LAPD Cadets - Southeast Division, Metro LA Region of Los Angeles Church of Christ, N. Pasadena Church of Christ, Our Lady of Victory Elementary School, Parents of Watts, Richstone Family Center, Salvation Army of Compton, South Bay Family Health Center, St. Albert the Great, St. Lawrence Elementary School, St. Odilia's Elementary School, Thomas House Family Shelter, VFW El Monte Post 10218, and Watts/Century Latino Organization.

This year's sponsors that donated $1,000 or more included Affinity Trusts; Appraisal Solutions; Big 5; Cook Solutions Group, Inc.; Cox Automotive; CU Direct; CU Revest; DiVenture Marketing Group; Entrust Datacard; Experian; First American Mortgage Solutions, LLC; Forsyth Howe O'Dwyer Kalb & Murphy; GoodLeap; Iron Mountain Record Management; iSpace; Land Gorilla, Inc.; LPL Financial; Mrs. Cubbison's Foods; Open Lending; Servion, Inc.; Ralphs/Food 4 Less; Styskal, Wiese & Melchione; Skechers USA, Inc.; SWBC; and Symitar.

During the past year, employees of Kinecta and its subsidiaries volunteered over 4,560 hours, donated more than $634,000 to charitable causes, and participated in over 145 community events. To learn more about Kinecta’s community outreach programs and activities, visit https://www.kinecta.org/community/