In its first five years in business, stationary bikers – or “spinners” – have flocked to Shelley Arends’ tidy studio on the second floor of the Village Faire building.
To mark this milestone of her business success, Arends and her physically fit crew are holding “Six for Five,” a food drive to collect the top six most-needed non-perishable food items at the Laguna Food Pantry.
The high priority requests are canned tuna, peanut butter, jelly, pasta, pasta sauce, and cereal. Monetary donations to the Laguna Food Pantry will also be accepted at the front desk.
Andy Siegenfeld, chair of the all-volunteer Laguna Food Pantry, noted, “Our six suggested food items are especially important for the Pantry to have on hand as school breaks approach, and families whose children receive a subsidized daily meal at school will not have those to fall back on. We need to have a good stock of nutritious options that are easy to prepare.”
According to Arends, who has been instructing spin classes for 15 years, “We’re like a big family here at the studio. Almost everyone is active in the community and busy with lives of taking care of our kids. When I heard that the pantry gives out 2,500 pounds of food a day to our neighbors who don’t have enough, and that 20 percent of the people it feeds are children and babies, I saw an opportunity to make the studio’s fifth anniversary meaningful and helpful to folks who need it.”
Anyone may donate to Rhythm Ride’s collection box, now through April 25. The studio is located in the Village Faire building, 1100 S. Coast Highway, Suite 209A.
The Laguna Food Pantry, formerly the Laguna Resource Center, provides free, fresh, nutritious groceries to low-income households, who are invited to shop once a week at 20652 Laguna Canyon Road.
New volunteers are always welcome. Call 949 497-712.
