Life & Work with Regina Gamboa

Today we’d like to introduce you to Regina Gamboa.

Hi Regina, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Project 1:1 began almost 13 years ago with one bowl of soup and one homeless man. My husband James and I quickly realized that there was a need in the area. We returned the following week as we had promised and were met by several more of the homeless. Week after week, the numbers grew as did our love for them. Soon a few friends joined us. Each building relationships, trust and a bond to individuals they’d taken a liking to. Shortly after while sitting in church a scripture was put up on the overhead; Genesis 1:1. It was at that moment the name came to me. “Project 1:1” It stands for Each one reach one, Each one love one. On one occasion, I came by to drop off some pastries and was confronted by a homeless individual that I wasn’t familiar with. The individual was quite confrontational with me. To my surprise, several of folks I had grow to love came to my rescue and made it known that I was a “homie”. Since that point, they have lovingly been called “our homeless homies”. The heart of “P1:1” has always and will always be our homeless but as we grew and our name became known in the community, we started getting calls from people (families and individuals) that were struggling to make ends meet. The need for more food grew.

At that time our home church Horizon SouthBay, agreed to give us an area to house a small pantry, which we quickly outgrew. With their financial help, we rented a commercial storage unit and partnered with the San Diego Food Bank. We’ve fed a lot of people over the years….fast forward to 2020. During the pandemic Project 1:1 was feeding 1000s of people as one of the 35 Super Pantry’s in the county. I have to admit, I hated every minute of it. Although it was greatly needed, it wasn’t what P11 was about. It wasn’t personal to the individual. So I removed our name from all distributions and at the suggestion of my husband, Magnolia Pantry was born! We are in the process of opening our first brick and mortar. It will be a people’s choice pantry located in the heart of the community that we serve, Imperial Beach. The Magnolia flower represents Dignity, it was the one thing that I felt the large distributions lacked. Magnolia Project will be the first people’s choice pantry in the South Bay and I’m hoping other agencies will follow suit. I of course, have a few surprises up my sleeve but folks will just have to wait to see what they are!

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I can’t believe that what I thought was a one time thing has lasted 13yrs! I love what we do but it hasn’t been easy. Probably the biggest area of struggle, I would imagine like most nonprofits is funding. Project 1:1 with the exception of donations from our two family churches, Westside Church and Horizon SouthBay along with one faithful private donor, for the most part has been funded by my husband and myself. Although we started in 2008, we didn’t become a 501(c)3 nonprofit until 2017. So we weren’t able to apply for any grants or funding. Funding that would’ve helped purchase food and other things for our homies and families suffering from food insecurities. I became very good at making our Christmas donations last throughout the year. God has been faithful. We’ve never missed our weekly meals with the homeless and I’ve never had to turn anyone down that’s called and asked for food. One of our other challenges is making sure that those that want to volunteer have the same passion that we do. I give only the best and we don’t do anything halfway. My rule of thumb is “If I wouldn’t serve it to Jesus, then we don’t offer it to others”. There are people that volunteer for the wrong reasons. So learning from my past mistakes, Ive become very selective, almost like a mother hen. Im very leery of the volunteer that always wants to be seen, especially if theres a TV camara around. I will say that we have a core group of volunteers that make P1:1 run smoothly. One average we have about 25 volunteers but our core group consists of about 10 amazing, dedicated individuals that have been with us for over 10yrs.. James and I have a special needs daughter and there have been many times that we’ve been unable to physically be present due to hospital stays or her illnesses. This group steps forward without hesitation or instruction, each volunteer taking ownership whether it be running our diaper distribution, delivering or rescuing food, cooking meals for the homies, or providing pet food through our Project 1:1 pups program. We are so blessed to have them stand beside us. They are the true heart of Project 1:1!

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’d have to say I’m really not much of a businesswoman…heck who am I kidding, I’m not a businesswoman at all nor am I a paper person! When I was younger, I pursued a career in Nursing, which I loved. My oldest daughter jokingly says I’ve missed my calling as a doctor because I’m always diagnosing people. Little did I know that years later, the Lord would gift me with a child that would need every bit of the nursing skills Id learned. Ironically, I specialized in working with patients in wheelchairs. My little one is a wheelchair kiddo.I believe that my caring nature has flowed over into Project 1:1..God I hope so, Otherwise whats the purpose? On a personal level, I fall into the creative artist side. I love interior design (sooo excited to do Magnolia Project) I’m also comfortable grabbing a hammer or drill or busting a wall down. I do floral design, cake design and love to bake. While recovering from Covid, I decided to tackle a bucket list item and started to do watercolor painting, which I found to be very relaxing and therapeutic. Ive had no formal training in anything creative that I do so I have to give God all the credit for that.

Professionally, I think what sets me (us) apart from other non profits is that I don’t compete. I HATE it when people boast in all the great stuff they’ve done or are doing, how many people they’ve fed and blah blah blah!  I just think its so shallow and makes me wonder what their true motives are. Oh don’t get me wrong, recognition is a great thing. Project 1:1 has received many awards but its not because of anything Ive done and its not the reason we do it. It really is about the people we serve, the people that stand beside us and serve and those that financially back us. I know for a fact that none of them want recognition and if they happen to read this article, are probably cringing at the subtle mention of their acts and devotion.. I do what I do with passion and purpose and not for profit, popularity or position. My concern is for the person in front of me. That their immediate needs are met and that they’re treated with dignity and respect, no matter what their social status is. Its so much more than the momentary need for food. The food has from day one been used as a tool to build relationships in hopes to further that person into a better place. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “one person cant change the world”, but if we can change the world for one person, then that means everything. I believe that if we see an individual through the eyes of compassion and grace, then the possibilities for that person are endless.

Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
San Diego! We are pretty lucky to be in such a great city. I mean, no place beats this weather! I love that it’s so diverse and offers so much culture. I love that you’re an hour away in any direction from the beach to the mountains and I love all the homegrown organic places that have popped up. I hate all the graffiti thats everywhere. And of course, my heart breaks over all of the homeless encampments that I’m starting to see, even on sides of the freeway. A friend recently said to me, “Things would work so much better if we all rowed in the same direction”. There is so much depth to that statement. I think there are so many great organizations within our city, and if we would come together in a collaborative effort with citizens, politicians, nonprofits and include ideas from our homeless, I believe a lot of issues (homeless and otherwise) would be alleviated.

Contact Info:

• Email: projectoneone@yahoo.com
• Website: projectoneone.org
• Facebook: project 1:1