Nancy's Project
Nancy’s Project is a non-profit organized to furnish food, clothing, and household essentials to Salinas Valley farm worker families. It was the brainchild of Nancy Costello, a St. Dunstan’s parishioner, who in 1971 saw acute needs going unmet in this community. Nancy solicited donations of surplus food from grocery stores and began delivering it to farm workers daily until she was 95. Volunteers then stepped in and several dozen now continue Nancy’s work, feeding more than 2,000 people each week with beans, rice and food donated by local grocers.
Children are a special focus: Nancy’s Project gives away new shoes and backpacks stuffed with school supplies at the start of each school year, plus gifts at Christmas and treats for Easter and Halloween. Donations of new and gently used clothing, toys and household goods are always welcome at the Nancy’s Project shed at St. Dunstan’s and are promptly distributed at sites in East Salinas and Greenfield. Cash donations pay for maintenance, insurance and fuel for the Nancy’s Project delivery van and the purchase of food when donated supplies run short. Funds to support Nancy’s Project can be donated at https://www.nancysproject.org/give/
Fifty years on, Nancy’s Project is here to help feed the families whose labors feed us.
