He started a little produce stand in north Morro Bay, making a risky switch to only sell organically grown fruits and vegetables, and now Michael Wolfe of the Avocado Shack is opening his business to a local non-profit feeding needy kids and families.
Wolf said he’s lent one of two out buildings at his business, 2190 Main St., to the Estero Bay Kindness Coalition, which they’ve set up for storage and a food pantry filling boxes with foodstuffs that their volunteers deliver to families in the area.
It’s a way for him to give back, Wolfe told Estero Bay News. His produce stand was the home of Shorty & Son automotive repair for many years and the little shed he’s lent to the Kindness Coalition used to be a muffler and welding shop.
The Kindness Coalition (see: esterobaykindnesscoalition.org) has a simple mission statement: “Our primary mission is to partner with for-profits, nonprofits, churches, and schools to benefit the greater good and those living on the margins in the Estero Bay community.”
It was started in December 2017 by Pastor Bobby deLancellotti after he visited the Principal at Del Mar Elementary seeking a way to help the school kids for the holidays.
“The principal connected Bobby with 10 families,” the organization’s website said. “Bobby bought them two gifts each — a fun, practical gift and a $100 gift card to a local supermarket. In January, the principal sent Bobby a letter thanking him for the impact the gifts had on the families. She also informed him that 64% of the students at Del Mar were living at or below the poverty line.”
And while the school feeds them lunch, they often go hungry over the weekends.
That led to the start of the “Got Your Back” program in March 2018. Got Your Back helps feed kids over the weekend, providing two breakfasts, two lunches, two dinners, healthy snacks, fruit, milk, and juice to each kid enrolled.
The care packages were sent using backpacks. The kids brought in empty packs on Monday, and the Coalition filled them up and gave them back on Friday.
“By June 2018, Estero Bay Kindness Coalition was serving 48 students with Got Your Back. The following school year, it jumped to eight schools and over 200 students in the SLO Unified School District. During this time, our organization became a non-profit 501 C-3. By the 2019 school year, we were feeding over 200 children in eight schools.”
Wolf said deLancellotti officiated his wedding, and when he asked if Wolf knew anyone with storage space available, he offered the former shop building. It was cleaned up and the coalition took over the space Nov. 1.
Such an operation needs storage and workspace and The Avocado Shack’s kindness towards the Kindness Coalition jibed with Wolf’s desires to do something to better his community.
