Santa Monica College Foundation, together with the college itself, is primed and ready to support disaster victims with clothing,  food, and other supplies during the donation drive at its Bundy Campus from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 14.

Familiar with drives like this, the college has a campus bodega that is a food pantry available to its 27,000 students, giving out food every day, five days a week on the main campus, with another planned to open permanently on the Bundy Campus.

According to Dr. Lizzy Moore, President of the SMC Foundation, funding for emergency grants is number one on the needs list. All of the gifts received go directly to victims, the foundation is not taking a fee.  Food is number two,  ready to eat and easy to open.   

“Diapers are something we always need,” Moore, who organized the event, told LA Weekly at Monday’s drive. “Twenty percent of our student population are parenting students and we distribute baby supplies every week.”

KUT Clothing dropped off a truckload of brand-new jeans and the racks to go with them on Monday and IKEA donated 3,000 shopping bags and trucks to transport the donated items. 

“We had 450 people sign up to volunteer and still need more for the sorting, setup, and distribution phase,” Moore said. “We hope to distribute the items on the main campus next week. It’s going to take a minute because we want to set it up with dignity and care. Just like our bodega, we want to destigmatize the idea of needing help.”

Go to https://foundation.smc.edu/ to donate.

Update: The SMC Foundation will have a massive, three-day Fire Disaster Support Distribution drive starting  Wednesday, Jan. 22, through Friday,  Jan. 24.

Santa Monica College

SMC accepting donations on Tuesday, Jan. 14 (Michele Stueven)