The Drive was launched at the Annual Kickoff Luncheon November 3 at Twin Lakes church in Aptos and is Second Harvest’s biggest campaign of the year with 100% of the food and funds raised will go to support a network of 200 pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, food distributions, and programs throughout the county.
The drive is Second Harvest’s biggest campaign of the year, and 100% of the food and funds we raise will support our network of 200 pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, food distributions, and programs throughout the county.
“The holidays are a perfect time for those of us more fortunate to come together and work with our friends and neighbors to help those in the community most in need.”
The first lever is the Food Bank’s ability to acquire $9 worth of food for every dollar raised. “Last year [Director of Agency Network Services Grace Galvan] acquired 5 million pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables for an average of 10-12 cents a pound,” Elliott-McCrea explained.
The second lever is the Food Banks’s network of 200 programs and partner agencies that are on the ground and in your community across the county. “They know the need, they know the people, and they get the food you raise to the children and adults who need it most,” Elliott-McCrea told the crowd of nearly 300.
Finally, Elliott-McCrea rallied the room and informed them that together, they are the third “lever for maximum impact—there is strength in community. You know that providing healthy food to kids, working poor families, the disabled, seniors, and others builds a healthy and sustainable community, a vibrant and strong economy, and dignity and hope in all of us.”
Kickoff speakers included Dr. Nanette Mickiewicz, Dignity Health Dominican Hospital president and Jess Brown, Executive Director of the Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau.
Brown related how, early on, he learned the importance of sharing ideas with family, colleagues, and friends to achieve maximum impact.
He shared the example of how, in 1990, “three colleagues realized Food Banks needed a steady supply of fresh, locally grown produce. Their idea was to create an organization to accomplish this goal.” Today, “Ag Against Hunger, has distributed over 250 million pounds of produce to people in need in the past 25 years.” (Brown was a founding member, along with Elliott-McCrea and Tim Driscoll.)
Mickiewicz told the audience that “Food security and health go hand in hand, and anything we can do to combat hunger will enhance the overall well-being of our community.” She continued, “Dominican Hospital is proud to partner once again with Second Harvest Food Bank for the Holiday Food Drive.”
The speakers also stressed the importance of the healthy produce that Second Harvest distributes through our network. When family budgets are squeezed, people are forced to turn to cheap food, and the upshot is the growth of chronic diseases like diabetes and ballooning health care costs, which further impact families’ health and budgets. Second Harvest has long championed the importance of nutritious foods to reducing some of the very stressors that contribute to hunger in the first place.
“Even in such a wealthy part of the country,” observed Elliott-McCrea, “the community needs the Food Bank. People lose jobs, or their jobs don’t pay enough to live on; others get hit with unforeseen medical bills; others are veterans, or elderly, or children.”
Elliott-McCrea continued, “The holidays are a perfect time for those of us more fortunate to come together and work with our friends and neighbors to help those in the community most in need.”
For the third year in a row, Dignity Health–Dominican Hospital and Dignity Health Medical Group–Dominican are Presenting Sponsors of the Holiday Food & Fund Drive.