More than 25% of students attending Long Beach City ("LBCC") and California State University Long Beach ("CSULB") are food insecure. While many students may receive financial aid for tuition and books, some are not able to afford regular, nourishing meals. 

The Long Beach Rotary Charitable Foundation, with the help of a matching grant from Rotary District 5320, will utilize funds raised through Long Beach Gives 2026 to purchase and donate food and hygiene items. 

Our goal is to help those food insecure students at CSULB and LBCC. For many of the students, this is defined as not being confident of where their next meal will come from.

 

CSULB and LBCC each have an on-campus Pantry, where students can obtain nutritious food and other basic items. Items to be purchased from 2026 LB Gives funds raised through the Long Beach Rotary Charitable Foundation are those most requested by the students.

 

The basic student needs programs at CSULB and LBCC are supported by donations. In addition to providing food and hygiene products the programs include clothing, assistance with referrals and placements for housing, and transportation needs, such as bus passes and safe parking areas. 

With the funds for these programs raised through LB Gives, and the match from Rotary District 5320, Rotary Long Beach members get together twice each year to stuff backpack bags with food and personal hygiene items, which are then delivered to the LBCC and CSULB pantries. Our bag stuffing goal this fiscal year (July 1 through June 30 annually) is to provide 2,000 bags - 1,000 to each school.  

Other programs offered by Rotary Club of Long Beach include Reading by Nine, Bikes for Kids, Camp Enterprise, and Rotary Youth Leadership Awards. For more information about our club see our website (https://www.rotarylongbeach.org) and our social media pages.