Dorris Davis, 74, came to the Flying Samaritans’ monthly food bank for the first time on the morning of Nov. 3 to get food and resources.
“Food is more expensive than I have money for and somebody told me they have good vegetables here,” she said. “I eat mostly vegetables.”
Davis shared that she will be coming back again to capitalize on the food resources.
“I’m glad to know that the Flying Samaritans are doing community outreach, I think it’s important for them to have contact with seniors and to have seniors to contact with younger people,” Davis said.
The Flying Samaritans is a club at CSULB that holds monthly general meetings, one fundraiser, food banks on the first and third Friday of the month and have monthly visits to Tijuana, Mexico.
“I knew when I started college that I wanted to do volunteer work since I was not able to do any type of volunteer [work] in high school,” Flying Samaritans president Daniel Palacios said.
“I joined during Week of Welcome on Zoom this year due to the pandemic.”
He started in 2020 and began the role of fundraising chair in the spring of 2022, became the vice president in the fall of 2022 and became president this semester.
Adriana Conoles, a health science major at CSULB, has been at the Flying Samaritans for one year as their public relations person.
“One of the women that usually comes to our clinic […] last time I seen her she was nine months pregnant,” Conoles said.
“Something I thought was really neat was that as a club, we decided to organize and do a baby drive for her.”
The health science major said that everyone got to see the baby at the next clinic and the Flying Samaritans donated her a few baby items but they plan to create a big baby drive for her.
“I think that for me that stuck with me that we’re not just [providing primary care] […] we do a lot more than that,” she said.
Jesus Mendoza, who’s been part of the Flying Samaritans for a year and a half, said hopes to become a physician and to continue working in public health in the future.
“That’s what keeps me going, the community members and once a month we go to Tijuana, Mexico. It puts everything in perspective and really just fuels me to go down this path towards medicine,” Mendoza said.
Conoles seconded Mendoza’s sentiment stating, “I know that I want to go into medicine, I’m not sure if I want to do B.A or nursing school and I thought that joining this club can give me a lot of clarity because we do work alongside medical doctors and nurse practitioners.”
The vice president of Flying Samaritans, Angeles Vazquez, has been part of the organization for over a year and what drew her to the organization was her Mexican heritage.
“Seeing how I’m able to help support them and provide a service where my parents couldn’t,” she said.
“A common misconception about our club is that you have to be Mexican to participate, you don’t have to be Mexican,” Vazquez said.
“All you have to have is a passport, if you want to participate down in the clinics to be able to travel […] you don’t need to have a passport if you want to be a member.”
The Flying Samaritans at CSULB have social media on the CSULB events and organization site with their contact information.