Halloween parties with ghoulish treats, hot drinks and always too much food… Sound familiar?
Probably, and it sounds familiar to me too. Luckily, my family has always had enough (more than enough) food for parties, holidays, and every day. But some folks here in my community aren’t so lucky. Every month the Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties provides food to more than 207,000 people. And this year due to the poor economy and joblessness, there has been a 17% increase in requests for food. If you’re like me, you may assume this food is going to some homeless folks. And you’d be right, 10% goes to help the homeless. But guess what? The other 90% (food for 186,300 people!) is going to low-income senior households, families with children, low income volunteers, and kids who don’t have enough to eat when out of school on the weekends.
As we just started a food drive for SummerHill Homes, I visited the 2nd Harvest food bank yesterday for some more information. I found out that just $1 donated to the food bank is enough to buy 2 meals. 2 meals?! I can’t even get a taco for $1 anymore! But at the food bank, every cent goes further… certain agencies, grocery stores and farmers work with the food bank to get them more food for less. Get this… If you were to buy 75- 1 dozen cartons of fresh eggs at the store it would cost you about $299. The food bank can get the same eggs for only $75! Check out this page to see how far your donation goes. They sure work hard to get the most for the money when every dollar and every bag of food counts.
That’s just one of the many facts I learned yesterday and have yet to pass on to you this holiday season as we host our food drive from October 19th to November 26th (Thanksgiving Day).
If you have food on your table and giving in your heart, please help the hungry today.
You can donate online with Summerhill Homes here or drop off  food to our donation barrels at the following conveniently located communities:
- Merimont in San Bruno
- Park Station in South San Francisco
- Redwood Gate in Palo Alto
- Rosewood in Fremont
- Satake Estates in Mountain View
- Village Square in San Jose
Happy Friday and Happy Giving.
Here are some pictures from yesterday’s visit, more to follow 🙂
It is so exciting to be participating in getting food on the table for families in need this holiday season. What a great project!
Took me ages to find this post, this time I’ll bookmark it.