Honorary Mayor Izzy’s Food Drive Aids San Juan Families

CARMICHAEL, CA (MPG) - Realtor and Carmichael Honorary Mayor Izzy Delancey is helping to keep the San Juan School District food closet stocked. The dynamic grandmother mixes business with humanitarianism to deliver groceries to the pantry that helps more than 2000 local families.

Using her office (Trillium Real estate headquarters on Marconi Avenue) as a drop-off point, Delancey has gathered four big truckloads of food since Christmas. Though the drive is only for non-perishables, her call for frozen meat filled the San Juan closet freezer on St Patrick’s Day. “Most people gave us frozen chicken,” says Delancey. “One company brought in 30 pounds of it. Along with other donations, we got more than 50 pounds of meat.”

San Juan District Student Support staffer Reham Nawar applauds the effort: “We can’t expect children to do well at school when they are hungry,” she says.  “Seeing how much the people have donated through Izzy shows me what a caring and loving community this is.”

At a time when many realtors are rushed off their feet, Delancey -AKA ‘busy Izzy’- is continuing her outreach indefinitely. “Our industry is flourishing right now,” she says. “But plenty of people are not doing so well. What better time to give back?” Carmichael born and bred, the La Sierra High School graduate became aware of the closet’s needs at the end of last year. “I heard through Facebook that their food supplies were nearly exhausted,” she explains. “I was raised in a family with nine kids. Our mom didn’t speak good English and some people found her hard to understand. But she had a soul to serve. She taught us how important it was to help others.” Though the Ybarra family never went without, disaster struck when Izzy was ten and their father -a contractor and truck driver- was away from home. Their mom was robbed at K-Mart.  “All the money she had to look after us was in her purse,” explains Delancey. “We didn’t know what to do. But the newspaper ran a story about what happened to us. Dozens of people came by our driveway with food and money. It was almost Christmas and they even brought us presents. It resonated in my soul that so many strangers cared about us.”

The realtor promoted her 2020/21 food campaign via Facebook, flyers and Chamber of Commerce friends. Donations have filled the Trillium lobby ever since and some Samaritans provided cash for grocery purchases. “I’m so grateful to all the generous folk who stepped up to help,” says Delancey. “It’s my mission to continue keeping the closet filled, to the best of my ability. It’s in my blood to help others.”

To contact Izzy Delancey, call (916) 271-2100. The Trillium office is located at 4901 Marconi Avenue.

San Juan District Food Closet assistance is available to any low-income family, regardless of where their children attend school. Learn about the closet at www.sanjuan.edu/mkv