Pomona nonprofit gives food to those in need and second chances to rebuild lives

The nonprofit God's Pantry in Pomona serves around 10,000 families monthly, while nearly all of its staff have overcome homelessness, addiction, gangs, or incarceration.

This often-neglected group of people is reshaping their lives and getting second chances while serving the community.

"We like to say we work in the intersection of food insecurity and gang intervention work," Augusto "Goose" Dolce, God's Pantry executive director, said.

Randi Ethridge is in training with God's Pantry, and she was homeless and addicted to opiates for 20 years. Her rock bottom was her husband's death and losing custody of her children.

"I had accepted that I was going to die that way," she said. It took her 42 attempts at a rehabilitation facility to finally break free. 

Her first meal was from God's Pantry, and while food distribution was making a clear difference in the community, staff realized during the pandemic that they should be doing so much more.

"We had a lot of work, and we needed a lot of people," Dolce said.

COVID grants helped them to provide work training, housing, and counseling. They now have a system where trainees are paid not just to work the food line but also to receive services while on the clock.

"We literally call it a therapeutic work environment where healing is as important as them clocking in and showing up on time," Dolce said.

For Ethridge, getting custody of her kids again was a top priority. "If I want to get my kids back, I need to prove myself, so I took all of those classes 12 times over," she said.

Their newest project, free tattoo removal for gang-affiliated or prison ink, and Third Street, a print shop where proceeds go back into the nonprofit. Ethridge now works at the shop full-time, managing orders and invoicing.

"I love numbers, I'm weird like that," Ethridge said. It has sparked an interest in business, leading her to enroll in college.

She now lives in an apartment with her youngest and is working to regain the trust of her two older children one day.

"Because he's the oldest, he saw the majority of the addiction and he has yet to speak with me. But I'm remaining hopeful that one day he will. I just need to keep showing up," Ethridge said.