Every Monday morning just before 10 a.m., students’ excited voices can be heard as they line up in front of West Valley College’s Cohn Family Food Pantry. They are here to peruse fresh, organic produce — from bok choy to strawberries —coming from the unsold stock of the Los Gatos Farmers Market and delivered to the pantry every Sunday afternoon. 
This is the result of an 18-month partnership between the WVC Office of Student Needs, Imprint of Kindness, and the Los Gatos Farmers Market. The latter happens from 9 a.m. to –1 p.m. Sundays in downtown Los Gatos.
The CFFP (previously known as the Roots Pantry), managed by the Office of Student Needs, is where students can stop from Monday to Thursday to pick up fresh produce, non-perishable, and refrigerated goods, such as canned beans and milk. Samantha Hernandez, the director of the Office of Student Needs, oversees the pantry. She says that every week, more than 300 students benefit from this partnership.
Imprint of Kindness, a non-profit organization led by Chani Modi and her son Aarav, began by serving up to 300 lunches for charities in downtown San Jose. Sensing they could expand operations and reduce food waste, Aarav Modi reached out to local farmers markets to ask if they would be willing to donate some of their unsold produce.
After an unsuccessful attempt with another farmers market, the Modis turned to the Los Gatos Farmers Market. There, the stars aligned. The Los Gatos Farmers Market manager had been looking for an organization to gather the leftover produce. Imprint of Kindness stepped in, and a collaboration was born.
The produce had to be donated to local organizations, and West Valley College was first on Imprint of Kindness’s list. The partnership with the CFFP which began in December 2023, has been extremely popular with students. It gives students access to free, healthy foods in an age when food insecurity and the rising cost of living affects many. In fact, the produce offering is so well-received that students claim most of it by Wednesday each week.
Due to the program’s steady growth, it now employs two student ambassadors. Every Sunday, after the market closes, the student ambassadors head to downtown Los Gatos to collect and fill their vehicles to the brim with everything from fresh bread to leafy greens and ripe fruit. Modi estimates that the ambassadors collected over 12 tons of produce in 2024 alone.
“(It’s) heartening to know that West Valley College remains committed to ensuring that no student, faculty, or staff member is left without access to essential resources,” said student ambassador Samuel Leyva.
Leyva calls serving as a student ambassador “incredibly meaningful,” because it helps empower his community and provide support to fellow students.
The collaboration offers multiple benefits, chief among them “educating our students to nutritious food practices and breaking down barriers to education,” Hernandez said.