About Us overview

The Tree of New America (TONA) is the facilitation partner for a coalition of permanent & temporary supportive housing managers, regional food pantries and grocery outlets. Critical to TONA's evolution as a food sustainability advocate has been it's relationship with it's food pantry partners, such as Mary's Kitchen Pantry (MKP) a micro food pantry located in the city of Anaheim California.

Back in November 2024 we invited Melissa Locke to a Mary's Kitchen Pantry food event. In this video Melissa announced her intention to run in the 2025 Mrs. California United States competition. Soon after she would become the spokes person for the Tree of New America as well as a founding member.

Its June 2025 and Melissa Locke is now Mrs. California United States 2025. In this video Melissa is joined by pop-culture choreographer to the stars Dante Corde' as they both host a Tree of New America community TableTop-PopUp cooking event at the Miraflores NEST (PSH) facility located in Anaheim California.

In a nutshell it is the Tree of New America's job to source surplus food from regional food pantries, community action partnerships and grocery outlets. With the help of Artificial Intelligence we use the metrics provided by our coalition partners to organize and deploy customized Mobile-PopUp food pantries & community TableTop-PopUp cooking events. 

About Us the founders

Eric Wilder, Melissa Locke, Jessica Becerra, and Harold Arscott all met while volunteering at Mary's Kitchen Pantry (MKP). Soon after they identified a gap in MKP services that they as a group could fill. The Tree of New America (TONA) would then evolve from a cultural film arts project to a food sustainability advocate and then to a food sustainability facilitator for its Permanent & Temporary Supportive Housing partners in Southern California.

About Us brief history

The Evolution of Tree of New America (TONA)
October - December 2024: Strategic Growth and Operational DevelopmentTONA's founders took decisive action to assist MKP by facilitating various services where they could. They created a detailed strategic plan that focused on a rebranding effort, targeted content creation, proactive community outreach, and technology solutions to streamline operations. 
Simultaneously, they drove a continuous website redesign and brand development initiative, aiming to establish MKP as a prominent leader in the mobile pop-up pantry space. A user-friendly calendar was added during the website redesign, ensuring the community could easily find upcoming events. 
They also actively cultivated strategic partnerships and directly engaged with key decision-makers to secure vital support, ensuring MKP's growth trajectory.
January 2025: Transition, Strategic Planning, and Expansion VisionFollowing MKP's rebranding, TONA transitioned to a facilitator role, aiming to scale its services and amplify its impact. Recognizing the limitations of operating solely as volunteers, TONA sought non-profit designation to unlock crucial resources and build long-term sustainability. 
This status would enable them to secure grants, establish formal partnerships, and attract dedicated funding, allowing for the replication of the MKP model across neighboring counties. To this end, they pursued strategic partnerships and collaborations, initiating strategic communication and proposal development. 
February 2025: Partnerships, Logistics, and Volunteer DevelopmentTo establish community credibility and goodwill, TONA actively cultivated relationships with representatives from permanent and temporary supportive housing communities. To improve logistics, TONA developed an app that ensured effective communication and food pickup from grocery retailers. 
March 2025 to the present day: Official Status and Program ExpansionIn March of 2025 TONA achieved its official non-profit designation. Following weeks of focused discussions, TONA secured MOUs and launched pilot programs with numerous Permanent & Temporary Supportive Housing, and Sober Living Housing facilities, enabling the organization to begin it's much needed pursuit of crucial funding.