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At Pacific Meadows Retirement Community off of Carmel Valley Road, you don’t necessarily expect to see so many sparkling new solar arrays laid on seemingly every roof.

Another surprise awaits, and the news isn’t as sunny: Food Bank for Monterey County delivers to around 50 individuals here every week.

The fact that Carmel retirees aren’t exactly synonymous with food aid provides a valuable reminder of who gets hit by tweaked government priorities and tough economic times.

Fortunately they also get hit with a plastic bag stocked with eight canned foods ranging from peaches to macaroni and hamburger, with bags of pinto beans, white rice and spaghetti noodles. Bags of small oranges came for each as well, in addition to a bag of frozen Tyson chicken leg quarters. A spunky group of seniors welcomes the delivery Friday mornings, hustling the bags into the facility’s lounge and sorting it for one another.

The Food Bank provides admirable bang for the buck: Thanks to clever partnerships and supreme hustle, every dollar donated to the bank translates to $8 of food stuffs.

Their good work is all the more striking during the holidays. Now is Monterey County Gives! season too, meaning now's the time to visit www.montereycountygives.com to scroll through 95 nonprofits sharing their "Big Ideas" with you through Dec. 31.

Five aim directly at hunger and school lunch. Those are listed in a recent Food blog post accessible here.

I'm guessing you won't regret spending three minutes exploring the good efforts going down in our area. Small donations of time and money can make a big difference.