Compton Food Pantry:
A Community Partnership in Action
The Compton Chamber of Commerce, founder and main sponsor of the Compton Food Pantry, proudly celebrates its ongoing collaboration with St. James AME Church and For the Love of Our Veterans organization. Together, we have built a strong and compassionate alliance that continues to serve our community with dedication and love.
St. James AME Church has generously provided a permanent home for the program and continues to be a vital food donor. For the Love of Our Veterans leads the day-to-day operations, coordinating our devoted team of volunteers who ensure that food reaches those who need it most.
We extend our deepest gratitude to all who make this effort possible — our volunteers, private donors, NGOs, and the many federal (USDA), state, county, and City of Los Angeles food partners and distribution centers. Through your combined efforts, the Compton Food Pantry has not missed a single day of service since the onset of the pandemic.
With renovations and reorganization now complete, our new permanent home is fully equipped with optimized refrigeration and storage facilities, and our senior and disabled resident delivery program is running strong.
Hours of operation (Updated Nov. 2025)
Delivery to seniors/disabled:
Thursdays 10 am – 3 pm
Please call enroll to the program!
Community distribution:
Saturdays 12 pm – 3 pm
Church distribution:
Fourth Sundays 12 noon – 1 pm
Volunteer Opportunities
We are endlessly grateful for everyone who supports this mission through food and monetary donations and the gift of time. If you would like to volunteer or contribute, please reach out to the Pantry team — together, we continue to make a difference.
Please contact the Compton Food Pantry at
(310) 801-1490 if you have any questions regarding the program, to be added on the recipient list as a senior resident or a disabled individual, or apply to volunteer.
Origins of the Compton Food Pantry
The COVID-19 crisis profoundly affected the City of Compton. Businesses were forced to close—initially on a temporary basis, and many ultimately on a permanent one. Local unemployment surged from 6% to 21%, creating widespread instability for families and households across the city. At the same time, the demand for emergency food assistance grew sharply, driven in part by Compton’s long-standing shortage of grocery stores, farmers’ markets, and healthy food providers.
Regional community food-support organizations reported 400% increase in the number of residents seeking food assistance, with the surge showing no signs of slowing. Meeting basic nutritional needs became a growing challenge for vulnerable families—particularly seniors and single-parent households with children—with healthy and nutritious options becoming even more out of reach.
As food insecurity escalated, many Compton households were forced into difficult trade-offs between purchasing basic food, obtaining necessary medicines, and covering other essential expenses. The combined pressures of rising unemployment, shrinking food access, and overwhelming community need underscored the urgent necessity of coordinated relief efforts—ultimately leading to the expansion of the Chamber-managed Compton Food Pantry as the mission-critical component of the Compton United Response Effort (C.U.R.E.).
Compton United Response Effort (C.U.R.E.)
The Compton United Response Effort (C.U.R.E.) was initiated by former Mayor Aja Brown at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic as a citywide emergency-relief initiative designed to coordinate food distribution, essential supplies, and critical information for Compton residents.
C.U.R.E. was organized outside of the City’s formal departmental structure and operated independently of City Council actions. It functioned as a Mayor-led community coalition, bringing together nonprofits, faith-based institutions, volunteer groups, private partners, and the Compton Chamber of Commerce to support the community during the public-health emergency.
A significant portion of the activities conducted under C.U.R.E.—particularly the pantry and food-distribution operations during the first two years of the pandemic—was supported through private donations and federal COVID-19 relief funding administered by the City of Compton.
The Chamber remains proud of its service to Compton residents during this historic period and is committed to maintaining accurate and transparent records regarding the formation, leadership, and funding of C.U.R.E.
The Chamber is grateful for the public recognition expressed by former Compton Mayor Aja Brown, who acknowledged the Chamber’s leadership and management role in carrying out major components of the C.U.R.E. effort—most notably the citywide food-security work, pantry operations, and distribution logistics within the established collaborative framework.
Food insecurity is defined as the state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food. The rates of food insecurity limits people’s ability to have a balanced diet, places children and adults at higher risk of compromised immunity, obesity, diabetes and other diet-related health conditions, anxiety and depression, and reduced academic achievement.
In response to the pandemic, the city under the leadership of Mayor Aja Brown launched "Compton United Response Effort" (CURE). The mission critical food security partnership was formed between non-profit agencies across the city and private sector contributors to combat food insecurity in Compton during and after the pandemic. From March 2020 until January 2021 - the City of Compton provided facilities at Compton Career Link for the pantry operation. The Compton Chamber of Commerce assumed the full operational management of the program, supplied commercial refrigeration units for cold storage of fresh products and arranged for logistics and transportation for deliveries and food ditribution to seniors and disabled.
Compton Food Pantry Initiative Today
Today, the Compton Chamber of Commerce sponsored program is based on five initiatives:
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Feeding Children,
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Feeding Families,
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Feeding Seniors and Disabled,
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Feeding Veterans and
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Healthy Eating.
Today, the Compton Chamber of Commerce fully committed to sustaining this ministry, and ultimately, do our part to provide increased access to healthy, fresh food, help erase hunger in our community and impact lives for the longer term.
Compton Chamber of Commerce's Pantry Program Success in 2020
From March until the end of the year 2020, Compton Chamber of Commerce - in partnership with the Compton United Response Effort (CURE) - fought hunger in our community. During this time period, the Chamber-led program served well over 10,000 people every month. In total, the program helped over 100,000 residents in our region; collecting, packaging, curbside distributing and delivering food and hygiene items.
Of course, this program would not have been a success without Chamber President Dr. Lestean M. Johnson's selfless leadership and unwavering dedication.
Also, without the hands-on support of countless volunteers, this program could not have completed such a monumental task. We have a wonderful community who supports us! Throughout last years, the support has been unbelievable.
We're neighbors helping neighbors.
Temporary End Of The 2020 Compton Food Pantry Program
At the end of 2020, Compton Chamber announced that the chamber operated pantry/food distribution service would come to an end in January 2021. This decision was made due to the "time limited" availability of the facilities at "Compton Career Link" - located at 700 N. Bullis. This location was made available to the Chamber by the city on a temporary basis in order to run the large scale pantry program responding to the pandemic emergency.
Going Forward With The "Compton Food Pantry" Program In 2021
In 2021, Compton continued to be adversely affected by the pandemic. With the few surviving businesses opening slowly and vaccinations becoming available, some people may think that the pandemic problem was over. Yet, this was far from the reality.
This next phase of the pandemic required us to evaluate the needs of our community anew. As the infectious virus continued to affect our community, many residents were still living on the edge, found themselves out of work, in need of food, shelter, money and healthcare assistance. The food pantries throughout our city were still seeing a surge of need.
In the light of the current circumstances, it was irrefutable that the Chamber needed to go on with its community assistance services, with the pantry operation in its core. We were committed to ensure that everyone in our community had access to fresh nutritious food, while the healthcare professionals continued to provide systematic testing, contact tracing, vaccination, hospital treatments and public-health messaging while we immunized against the virus.
The New Location For The 2021 Compton Food Pantry Program
During the first months of 2021, the Compton Chamber leadership have been tirelessly working with the city officials to find a new location that accommodates the needs of the large scale pantry operation. The city leadership was very fortcoming and committed to the new temporary location for the Compton Chamber managed Food Pantry to be the Lueders Park Community Center.
The new temporary location for the Compton Food Pantry started its operations in the early part of 2021 after a challenging move to the Lueders Park Community Center located at 1500 East Rosecrans Ave. in Compton.
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The "Compton Food Pantry" resumed its operations at the new site on Monday, March 1st, 2021.
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The first food pick-up date open to public was Wednesday, March 4th, 2021.
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The curb-side food distribution hours at the new site were from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm on following days of the week: Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
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Participating churches and other partner food distribution operations throughout the City of Compton picked up their supplies on Wednesdays from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm.
Logistics of Compton Food Pantry Program
Most people who volunteered for the Compton Food Pantry did not know what a food pantry is before they started helping the program. People knew the food pantries collect and donate food, but most folks never thought about the logistics of how the food is distributed to the people that need it.
An operation of Compton Food Pantry's size and distribution volume requires reliable refrigeration and facilities to ensure food was not wasted and meals were not missed.
Furthermore, deliveries had to be carefully coordinated with “partner agencies” so that all foods that were susceptible to spoilage remained fresh until distribution.
We're neighbors helping neighbors!
Throughout emergeny operation years, the support in terms of receiving, inspecting, inside sorting, portioning and storage as well as curb-side preparations before food distribution has been unbelievable.
Countless good-hearted, kind, generous people gave and helped. They came to our food pantry with their time, their talents, and their caring. When these people teamed up with our patrons in need, that’s when the magic happened.
Without the helping hands-on support of countless volunteers, this monumental program could not have been successful. We have a wonderful community who supported us through thick and thin!
All pantry activities including, but not limited to receiving, unpacking, inspection, storage, sorting, portioning, repacking and curbside distribution were conducted in strict accordance with the USDA food safety guidelines.
Furthermore, the COVID safety guidelines were rigorously followed by the volunteers and patrons.
Helping People In Need !
There were literally people of all ages and backgrounds, some living on their own, some working, some out of work, and some suffering from an illness or disability. There were lots of elderly people who could not have survived off only social security. The formerly incarcerated and veterans were also often stuck in a vicious cycle of poverty.
The common denominator between every person that drove up to our curbside food pickup location was, that they were in a vulnerable position in our city. Some were literally experiencing hunger, cutting back the size of their meals or skipping meals because there wasn’t enough food.
CFP Curb-side Pick-up
CFP Curb-side Pick-up
CFP - Food-pick-up - Curb-side 0
CFP - Food-pick-up - Curb-side 6
CFP - Food-pick-up - Curb-side 7
CFP Self Serve Food Pick-up
CFP Self Serve Food Pick-up
CFP - Food-pick-up - Self serve 2
CFP - Food-pick-up - Self serve 1
Compton Food Pantry's Official Location as of November 2025
Hours of operation:
Updated Nov. 2025
Delivery to seniors/disabled:
Thursdays 10 am – 3 pm
Must enroll to the program!
Community distribution:
Saturdays 12 pm – 3 pm
Church distribution:
Fourth Sundays 12 noon – 1 pm
Please contact the Compton Food Pantry at (310) 801-1490 if you have any questions regarding the program, to be added on the recipient list as a senior resident or a disabled individual, or apply to volunteer.
