To help fill empty bellies among the region's food insecure population, the Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust started the Community Seafood Program five years ago. It buys seafood from local fishing boats and donates the fresh fish to local food relief organizations.
The need is great.
The Food Bank of Monterey County reports 34% of residents can’t consistently afford food and Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Cruz County found food insecurity affects one in three residents
This year the Fisheries Trust will spend $40,000 on local seafood, which translates to 25,000 meals. Al & Friends is one organization that receives donations thanks to the program.
Sea Harvest, a family-run fishing business based out of Moss Landing, delivers to Al & Friends every couple months. Third-generation Monterey Bay fisherman Walter Deyerle helps operate Sea Harvest.
After boats hit Sea Harvest's dock in Moss Landing, cranes lift the catch off in bins and the fish are weighed and separated by species. Then, the seafood is either trucked off for delivery, or forklifted into the processing plant on site and sold in local markets.
”Everything comes off the boat, it's processed, [then] either frozen, sold that day, or held for the next day for a sale," said Deyerle. "But nothing sits around out here. Everything moves."
He usually hand-delivers the week's catch to Al Siekert, the founder of Al & Friends. Siekert cooks out of the community kitchen at Chautauqua Hall in Pacific Grove.
"The only rule we have is a closed mouth don't get fed," said Siekert. With his team of 100-plus volunteers, he consistently churns out restaurant-quality meals for food insecure folks every Sunday morning.
"I don't do pedestrian food," said Siekert. "You don't see me opening cans."
They serve the food at Window on the Bay Park just past Monterey’s Municipal Wharf.
On this fall Sunday, a lively band jams for nearly three hours. The sizzle of the frying fish, smell of fresh coffee, and sound of volunteers working together to get the food out also remain constant.
Luis Vasquez is one of the regulars.
"I love this place," said Vasquez, who is a seasonal farmworker and, like the majority of people eating with Al & Friends, lacks access to nutritious food.
" Everything's free—clothes, food—what we need, everything's here,” he says.
About half the food Al & Friends receives is donated. Today's coffee was donated from Acme Coffee Roasting Co. in Seaside and the bread was donated from Ad Astra Bread Co. in Monterey.
The black cod donated from the Fisheries Trust that came from Sea Harvest is a big hit.
"Today they're serving, they said like fish...fish and chips," said Vasquez. "I asked for (a) double plate."
Siekert started serving meals to roughly 20 people 12 years ago. Now, some weeks 150 people take a plate.
At 82, he says he's still applying a lesson he learned at a young age. "It was engrained in me at a very early age that people shared what they had," said Siekert.
"We've all been hungry, we've all needed gas money, we've all needed to hitch hike," said Siekert. "We've all needed to recognize we can't live by ourself—it's a community."
And that sense of community brings joy to Siekert, the volunteers and folks that keep coming back for good, hot meals.
"When you show up on Sunday, you're gonna see the smiling faces," said Siekert. "It's incredible. It's a big deal."
