Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1314457
clothing and bedding and towels." Soon ALL-IN Monterey County was helping 12 organizations and 2,000 families a week with food drives, where people could drive up and receive gifts of food and cleaning supplies as well as offering free grocery delivery services. "We organized to help those in need during the uncertainty of COVID," Kosta says. "We had a group of respected volunteers that people knew they could donate to, and we would turn around and gift it back to the community at no charge." Not a charity or a nonprofit, ALL-IN does not track who is receiving services. "Whoever needs a little bit of kindness can come and get what they need," Kosta says. "We want people to get things in the way they are most comfortable receiving." She lists three essential partners who have made ALL-IN a success: Melissa Kendrick, exec- utive director of The Food Bank for Monterey County, who "gets us whatever we need;" P.K. Diffenbaugh, superintendent of Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, who agreed to let Kosta use Seaside High to set up a grocery store, supply shop, and gently used clothing bou- tique; and Karen Blackwell-Harrison, co-owner of English Ales Brewery in Marina "who handed me the keys to her refrigerated storage unit to store milk, eggs and produce." Tanya Kosta, with members of the National Guard, helps distribute donations from The Food Bank for Monterey County at Seaside High School's "grocery store." 148 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • W I N T E R 2 0 2 1 Monterey Peninsula Unified School District Superintendent P.K. Diffenbaugh worked with ALL-IN Monterey County volunteers to turn some Seaside High classrooms into places where people could pick-up donated food, personal supplies and clothing. Photos: Carmen Fergusen