Couple celebrates 30th anniversary by feeding 300 people

SALINAS, Calif. (KION) A Central Coast couple celebrate their 30th anniversary by giving back to their community.

Jesus and Laura Maldonado are giving plates of food to residents in need across the central coast including Soledad, Gonzales, and Salinas. Initially, they set their sights on Las Vegas for their special day but decided to stay home and put that money towards giving back.

"Since Covid, we decided to stay here at home and share our love and sprea\d joy by feeding at least 125 people so we gathered this morning, made some hot dogs, put a lot of snacks and we're delivering to a lot of places that people are in need and just bring a smile on people's faces," says Jesus Maldonado.

In Gonzales, they stopped by a community of AG workers, one of the hardest-hit populations during the pandemic. A resident told me that these kinds of acts remind her that she's not alone.

"Everything seems so hopeless right? Although things are getting better and things are starting to open up, I think that there's still some form of despair that everyone feels and we don't receive surprises very often, especially in a community like ours. Because it's been hard on everyone, I think that doing something like this really does show that we're not alone," says Magely Santos, resident of Gonzales.

The family hopes to motivate others to give back to their community.

"Inspire somebody else maybe to do this as well and to know that somebody has a little snack, a little something that maybe they are not going to have it today but hopefully we made that day," says Laura Maldonado.

The family hopes to make this a tradition every year.