🎙️❤️ Episode 26 — Pam Gnekow | The Heart That Feeds the Santa Ynez Valley 🥕🚚
Chopping It Up with Keith Saarloos · Released December 31, 2025 · Santa Ynez Valley, California
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About this conversation
This week on Chopping It Up, Keith sits down with a true, behind-the-scenes legend of the Santa Ynez Valley: Pam Gnekow, CEO of San Ynez Valley Community Outreach—the woman quietly holding the safety net together while the rest of us go about our lives.
Pam doesn’t just talk about helping people—she does it.
From Meals on Wheels to veteran services, from domestic violence support to emergency food distribution, Pam and her team moved over 2.1 MILLION pounds of food into the hands and homes of people who needed it most—out of a tiny building, with massive heart.
You’ll hear:
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How a simple question at the food bank turned into 10+ tons of food distributed every single week
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Why people will stand in line for an hour for food—and why that matters
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How churches, volunteers, cities, veterans, and neighbors all lock arms when it counts
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The incredible story behind Cars & Cowboys, a sold-out fundraiser that proves charity and joy can coexist
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Why a pop-up Vintage Christmas Market in the old Mole Hole became a full-blown Hallmark movie moment 🎄
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And why this Valley isn’t just beautiful to look at—it’s beautiful because of the people in it
This episode is about fountains, not drains.
About building longer tables, not taller fences.
About reminding us that need exists—even in places that look affluent from the outside—and that community still works when we choose to show up.
If you’ve ever wondered:
“How can I help?”
“Does it even make a difference?”
“Is there still good happening?”
This one’s for you.
👉 Listen.
👉 Share it.
👉 Then go do one small good thing.
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Saarloos + Sons archive host Keith Saarloos. Context photograph; not a portrait of the guest or a photograph of this recording.
