Gathering groceries and building relationships




HOME DELIVERIES—Above, Annie Fassl, Sharon Rife and Claudia Jones check their lists as they wrap up their weekly Shop Ahoy trip at the Simi Valley Vons. At right, Jones, Sandy Leon, Fassl and Rife leave Vons with carts full of groceries. The volunteers will now deliver the groceries to the homes of Shop Ahoy clients, who are seniors or people with disabilities. Photos by KIRSTY FOWLER/Acorn Newspapers

HOME DELIVERIES—Above, Annie Fassl, Sharon Rife and Claudia Jones check their lists as they wrap up their weekly Shop Ahoy trip at the Simi Valley Vons. At right, Jones, Sandy Leon, Fassl and Rife leave Vons with carts full of groceries. The volunteers will now deliver the groceries to the homes of Shop Ahoy clients, who are seniors or people with disabilities. Photos by KIRSTY FOWLER/Acorn Newspapers

It’s 9 a.m. on a Tuesday morning and the aisles of the Simi Valley Vons on Tapo Canyon Road are pretty quiet.

Right on cue, like they do every Tuesday, a group of volunteers shows up to fill shopping carts with items from long grocery lists. They are there to assist the city’s chapter of Shop Ahoy, a Ventura County-based nonprofit that handdelivers food to seniors and adults with disabilities.

“The big difference between Shop Ahoy and online shopping . . . is that we care about our clients, we know who they are,” said Simi Valley site leader Sandy Leon, who’s been working with Shop Ahoy for about seven years after retiring as a dental assistant.

Any volunteer who drops off groceries will go into a home, Leon said, and help clients with whatever they need. One of Leon’s clients, for example, is in a wheelchair and needs assistance putting away food.

Over 120 volunteers are a part of the program that reaches 12 communities in Ventura County, and each has its own team and site leader to carry out the work.

 

 

Shop Ahoy president Tony Miller has been involved with the organization for about 12 years, ever since hearing about it at his church.

“Even though I’m 86, I can still drive, I walk five days a week, and to think of someone in a wheelchair like so many of our people are . . . the least we can do is help them,” Miller said.

People volunteering with Shop Ahoy can choose to shop and deliver the goods, take the orders or organize the shopping events.

Shop Ahoy is simple for clients to use.

Volunteers from the program reach out to Shop Ahoy members and ask specifically what they need. There are no restrictions on what people get as long as it’s available at Vons.

Program workers will then go shopping, taking the same care as if it were their own food, checking produce for bruises, for example, and purchasing what looks best.

Customers just have to make sure they’re home when their delivery arrives, which typically happens at the same time every week.

There is no set delivery fee: Clients just pay for their food and donate money at their discretion.

Leon said the Ventura County program currently has 150 clients.

“They’re very gracious, very thankful,” Leon said. “They appreciate (our work) and it’s just very rewarding.”

Shop Ahoy has been lending a helping hand across Ventura County since 1998, but the program started 14 years before that.

Founders Judy Madaj and David Berger launched the organization in Minneapolis to help seniors who couldn’t get out during the snowy, frigid winters. After moving west, the pair brought the program to Portland, Ore., and eventually to Southern California.

“Many of the people really look forward to, once a week, the volunteers coming with our groceries and the volunteers spend extra time with them,” Miller said. “It’s a chance for these people to have someone to talk and listen to.”

To volunteer for Shop Ahoy or sign up for deliveries, call (805) 236-1267 or visit shopahoy.org.