AMB Ranch Management pays for groceries

Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune

Jackeline Hernandez, left, and Le Shell Beas of AMB Ranch join Patricia and Bailey, 7, Venegas after a representative from AMB Ranch paid for their groceries on Saturday at Food 4 Less.

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With the help of other employees, AMB Ranch Management owner Adam Beas staged a grocery takeover, paying for groceries of unsuspecting customers at Madera’s Food-4-Less.

Beas gave away about $5,000 to 50-60 customers along with AMB managers Frank De La Garza and Roy Martinez.

“It was awesome,” Beas said. “Right now is the time to do something. At the end of the day, we care. We know what it is to be shut down or the money runs out. A lot of the people in America are one check away from poverty.”

Beas, whose company also hosted a 500 box food giveaway Tuesday morning, said he knows what it’s like to not have food on the table, or to not be able to pay his bills.

“It made us feel so good.,” Beas said. “I know what it was like for me when we couldn’t get by. I remember those days when we didn’t have any food. We had beans and rice and maybe some meat. Some people are fortunate to be able to pay other bills.”

Beas and his managers looked for customers that fit their criteria and then ambushed them at the registers, stepping in to pay their groceries.

“Some people were crying,” he said. “It was just spontaneous. Right when they were going to pay for their groceries, we were there. Non-essential people aren’t working. We need to help those people across the table. When they go to the store and spend the money, they can’t use it for something else, now they can.”

Beas credits his team and the store for a great day of giving.

“It was a great team effort,” he said. “The workers were happy. The environment was great. The district manager said he had never seen somebody do something like this. Facebook went crazy and people wrote some nice things about us.”