Check Out Claudia Castro’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Claudia Castro.

Hi Claudia, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Love, Evan was founded by Tracy and Guy Niizawa, inspired by their son’s journey with cancer. Their son Evan battled cancer from his freshman year in HS through his studies in Chemical Engineering at UC Berkeley. Through this journey, many strangers came alongside Evan and showed kindness to his family during such a hard time. These strangers showed up in different ways, such as praying, buying an In n Out shake when Evan couldn’t eat, and being company in a city when they traveled thousands of miles away from home for treatment. Evan went to heaven in 2/12/2016. The love from strangers inspired the Niizawa family to share this love to others during their difficult time. We come alongside cancer patients and their families, we do acts of kindness: these acts of kindness are individualized according to their immediate need. We purchase gift cards to brighten their day to stores, gas, super market, restaurants. We have also paid for a cleaning services, ordered uber eats on treatment days; whatever the patient or their loved one requests. The long term support we provide is food delivery. 4x a week volunteers get together and do a food bank ministry where we deliver donated food from different markets such as Trader Joe’s, WholeFoods, Sprouts, Everytable sourced by FoodCycle and FoodForward. The volunteers then deliver to different areas in Los Angeles. The list changes weekly depending on treatment schedules for cancer patients. We are also delivering to other recipients that are experiencing food insecurities such as seniors, low income families, persons who fear being in public due to current events.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The biggest obstacle we face during an economic down turn as the one we’re experiencing is that we have seen a decrease of donations. All donations are used 100% for cancer patients and their needs. Everyone at Love, Evan is a volunteer that has been impacted in a real way with acts of kindness from Love, Evan or is personally tied to the Niizawa family. They are determined to bring the love of God to folks facing such a life changing trial and bring light in to their darkness, regardless of the pain it brings them to relive their journey.
The food bank ministry is in the works of becoming its own entity to be dedicated to optimizing the food supply chain to ensure that nutritious food reaches the community efficiently. We are in need of a commercial space, a commercial refrigeration and freezer to keep produce fresh for day of delivery. Our hope is to one day have a dedicated commercial space for Manna From Heaven Food Bank so that the community will come on dedicated days for pick up and we can continue to deliver as needed. We are very grass roots for now and it is being run out of a garage. We hope we can connect with an individual who can write and requests grants for Love, Evan and Manna From Heaven Food Bank to help us with this massive undertaking. There are so many families facing food insecurity. Our goal is to help as many families as possible.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Cancer patients or their loved ones can reach out to Love, Evan at www.love-evan.org and request a gift. Someone then connects with them and give them a gift which will include a special blanket that is donated to us, gift cards that are requested and other gifts that we know will help brighten their day and inspire them. We then asses if they live in the areas in which we have volunteers that can deliver food to them through Manna From Heaven Food Bank.
The biggest thing we are proud of is the way that strangers can experience the love of God through the kindness of strangers. All our volunteers are so special and really give all their love with every interaction. We have seen many families be inspired to pay it forward after they have been touched by the kindness of strangers. There are families that have lost a family member to cancer but are very much a part of Love, Evan doing acts of kindness. We had a senior who lost his wife of 54 years. He had been in his home mourning over a year. Once our volunteers started delivering the time spent together inspired him to get out and start visiting other seniors going through similar circumstances.
Another senior lost her husband after a 5 year cancer journey, through her mourning she’s serving others by delivering food herself to others in need.
So many recipients have never experienced community before, community that shows up week after week. Complete strangers, caring deeply for one another, always available for prayer, or simply to be present in times of need. The personal stories are endless and incredibly inspiring, demonstrating how a single act of kindness can have a profound ripple effect on countless lives.
We also have built relationships with different oncology centers at hospitals that we deliver gifts to on the monthly basis so they can have something available if a patient comes in with an immediate need.
I believe what sets us apart is the love and dedication of all the people involved. From the Niizawa family to every friend who has come along in every phase since its inception. Every one is driven at the core to be the source of light in this dark world specially to those experiencing such a daunting life changing event of cancer. One gift at a time, one food box at a time, one prayer at a time.

How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
People & organization who are called to help can partner with us in various impactful ways, going beyond traditional volunteering to include various forms of financial contributions, such as secure online donations, including recurring payments. You can share your professional expertise pro-bono to strengthen our capacity. Furthermore, we can benefit from in-kind donations of goods or services such as office supplies, special equipment, supplies for gift bags/treatment bags, non perishable foods. You can reach us at www.love-evan.org or www.mannafromheaven.org

Pricing:

• $200 is our budget for individuals gift cards

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.love-evan.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/loveevanproject/
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/loveevanproject/