Second Harvest Sharing

Jacob’s Heart is Just One Of Many Deserving Organizations They Serve

By Chris Ryan

If you had enough food to fill a warehouse, and you wanted to share it with people in the community most in need-underserved children, veterans, people suffering serious illness, and more-how would you do it? How would you find all the people who need help, and how would you get food to them? You’d want to connect with the advocates, social workers, caregivers, and organizations already on the ground in the community that serve and support them-the people who know them best.

That’s what The Food Bank does, and Jacob’s Heart is one of those groups.

Jacob’s Heart Children’s Cancer Support Services provides compassionate care and practical help to lessen the emotional and the day-to-day challenges faced by families of children and teens during treatment, families experiencing anticipatory grief, and those who are bereaved.

Since 1998, the Watsonville center has served more than 600 children and 2,500 of their family members who have heard the devastating words, ‘Your child has cancer.’ Having a child in cancer treatment takes so much time and resources from a family that just keeping up with everyday tasks like shopping for groceries can be a struggle. And for many families, the costs of treatment can overwhelm their ability to afford other necessities.

So something as simple as a bag of groceries can lessen that burden.

“Our mission is to navigate the waters for our families,” said Janet Krupa, Director of Nutrition and Family Needs at Jacob’s Heart. “Every stress and burden we try to alleviate 1000% so their full concentration is on their child and their other family members.”

The group’s Full Hearts program sends out “between 900 and 1,100 pounds of food per delivery, for 70-80 families per week,” Krupa calculated. “Each family receives two bags, one of dry goods and one of fresh fruits and vegetables, overflowing.”

Since 2001, Second Harvest has provided these families over 101,000 pounds of nutritious food through Jacob’s Heart. Local farms, grocers, bakeries, and the like also donate directly.

How do families react to this often-unexpected help? “In the form of tears of gratitude,” Krupa reflected.

Krupa especially appreciates the relationships that make so much happen-Second Harvest’s relationships with local growers, which result in the healthy food that her clients need, and the close ties between Jacob’s Heart and Second Harvest.

“Just the other day,” Krupa said, “when we were at Second Harvest loading up food, Tiffany [Wong, Second Harvest’s Agency Relations Coordinator] pointed out a couple pallets of vitamins she knew we could use. That’s huge for us; huge.” That understanding of each other’s mission and needs helps both organizations serve the community ever more effectively.

And Jacob’s Heart is one of about 100 non-profit organizations Second Harvest partners with throughout Santa Cruz County. That network reaches far and wide, and allows Second Harvest to get the food and fresh produce they source to the people who need it.

“That’s why these two months-November and December-are so big for us,” said Suzanne Willis, Development and Marketing Officer for the Food Bank. “Our Holiday Food and Fund Drive, which we just kicked off, is a collaborative effort where schools, businesses, neighborhoods, and individuals organize dozens of smaller drives.”

“None of what we raise in these drives goes to our overhead,” Willis stressed. “One hundred percent goes directly to our program sites and our network of expert non-profit partners-people like Jacob’s Heart.”

Learn how you can participate in Second Harvest’s Holiday Food and Fund Drive at www.thefoodbank.org/campaign-in-a-box.

•••

More information on Jacob’s Heart can be found at jacobsheart.org