Rancho Cielo celebrates its largest Veggie Box fundraiser

Last Friday, the smell of barbecue blanketed the air as our ninth annual Veggie Box & BBQ fundraiser came to a close. It was our most successful yet!

By the numbers: over 15,000 veggie boxes (including produce from 15 local shippers and growers) were distributed to the community; more than 1,300 pounds of tri-tip were barbecued for over 2,000 BBQ lunches; several hundred volunteers, including community members, local businesses, Rancho students, staff and alumni, worked tirelessly to make it happen; and over 115 sponsors showed their support!

All proceeds raised benefit Rancho Cielo programs!

Several thousand veggie boxes were also purchased for local charities/nonprofits, including the Boys & Girls Club of Monterey County, Second Harvest Food Bank Santa Cruz, Salvation Army of Salinas and the Food Bank for Monterey County. All of those boxes went directly to families via the aforementioned organizations.

Thousands of boxes were also purchased for donation in support of needy families in East Palo Alto and Redwood City!

This ambitious orchestration, facilitation and arrangement of community collaboration, which took months to organize, couldn’t have been possible without Kim and Mike Costa, who have led the fundraiser since its infancy.

“It’s about the students,” Mike Costa says. “That’s the main thing—always remembering it’s about the students. Everyone’s on board with why we’re doing this.”

Kim Costa adds, “It’s a well-oiled machine!”

It’s also the true definition of the sentiment: “It takes a village!”