The Estero Bay Kindness Coalition’s 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. To further that goal, the group will hold a benefit dance concert featuring the Zongo All-Stars, Aug. 27 at SLO Brew.
Estero Bay Kindness Coalition started in December 2017, when founder Bobby deLancellotti met with the principal at Del Mar Elementary school in Morro Bay to inquire about how he could serve the most vulnerable students during the holidays. She informed him that 64 percent of the students at
Del Mar were living at or below the poverty line. This broke Bobby’s heart, so he decided to do something about it, organizers said.
In March 2018, he started Got Your Back, a program that helped feed kids over the weekend. The kids in this program rely on reduced lunch at school to eat during the week and would often go hungry on the weekends.
By June 2018, Estero Bay Kindness Coalition was providing backpacks full of healthy food for 48 students through the Got Your Back program. The following school year, the program jumped to 8 schools and over 200 students in the San Luis Coastal Unified School District. During this time, the organization became a non-profit 501 C-3.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and schools closed their doors in March 2020, Bobby met with local principals to get connected with some of the most vulnerable, food-insecure families in the District.
Estero Bay Kindness Coalition went from feeding school kids on the weekends to feeding whole families, for the week, virtually overnight.
To meet the needs of the families referred to them by one of the eight partnered schools, they created Bags of Love, a program that delivers three bags of groceries per week to over 90 families in the greater Estero Bay area. The bags of groceries consist of healthy, protein-rich breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks, juice, milk, and fresh, local produce.
Bobby has built a team of over 50 volunteers, four team leaders, and four food pantries. The organization currently partners with eight schools, 27 for-profits, 17 nonprofits, and 10 churches.
Tickets for the benefit concert are $15 in advance and can be purchased at my805tix.com/e/every-day-kindness/tickets. This is an all ages, mostly standing room show with very limited seating. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the show starts at 7:30 p.m. For more information or to make a donation, see esterobaykindnesscoalition.org.
