Holiday Food Drive Equals More Than 4 Million Meals In Santa Cruz County!

News from Second Harvest Food Bank:

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CA - At a morning breakfast at Seacliff Inn in Aptos, attended by numerous business, civic, and community leaders, Second Harvest Food Bank CEO Willy Elliott-McCrea revealed the long-awaited total number of meals raised by the community in Second Harvest’s Holiday Food Drive.

A guest from each table brought 3-D numbers up to the front, and when they stood together the full number materialized: 4,166,490.

The total represents the efforts and generosity of young 4-H members holding a bake sale, Santa Cruz Warriors basketball players auctioning the jerseys off their backs, the Pastor of Twin Lakes Church encouraging donations by promising to cut off most of his hair (and he did), Pajaro Valley High School students working hard on Saturday mornings, and many more schools, businesses, county offices, service groups, and individuals throwing their weight into the Holiday Food Drive, which ended Jan. 15.

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“This was quite a thrill,” Elliott-McCrea beamed. “It was our most successful Holiday Food Drive ever, and it was so fulfilling for everyone to take a little time out of the day and come together to share a meal, share stories, and share in the satisfaction of a job well done.”

“Food and health are joined at the hip,” said Dominican Hospital President and Holiday Food Drive Co-Chair Nanette Mickiewicz, MD, “and there are many in our community whose health suffers simply because they cannot afford nutritious food. This is why Dominican caregivers and staff have been such passionate supporters of Second Harvest for 20 years, and why we have donated more than a million healthy meals for local low-income families in that time.”

“This year’s meal reveal was especially moving,” remarked former Santa Cruz Mayor Hilary Bryant. “We blew past our goal of four million meals, and the excitement in the room when we revealed the number was electric.”

It was especially satisfying for Bryant, who is finishing the last of her two terms as Holiday Food Drive co-chair.

“All the food and funds donated during this drive—100 percent of it—will go to directly to distributing healthy food and fresh produce,” Elliott-McCrea explained. “It’ll help children, families, farmworkers, veterans, the elderly, and so many others who need a helping hand.”

Second Harvest will distribute the food through its network of 200 agencies and programs in Santa Cruz County.