Dear Friends and Supporters of the Food Bank,
It has been an unprecedented month, unlike any other in our 30 years of operation.
As you know in late October it was announced that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to families and individuals would not arrive on time. This put families in immediate peril with lack of food becoming an instant overwhelming problem for many.
Community members and organizations immediately sprang into action and donation bins for nonperishable food appeared at businesses throughout Santa Cruz County. Our volunteers, community members, and businesses did not rest during this crisis. Generous donations of food and money continued throughout November, providing a community safety net. During all of our November food distributions we carefully analyzed the ongoing needs of our clients with an eye to scheduling more special food distributions, if necessary.
The East Santa Cruz County Community Food Bank became a hub for donations as well as food distribution, far beyond our usual November food and holiday turkey distributions.
On November 8th at our regularly scheduled food distribution, we experienced a more than 22 % increase in demand, and our volunteers created and handed out 98 food bags. Due to uncertainty regarding when – or if – benefits would be restored to hungry families, as well as the possibility they would go without benefits the entire month, we decided to conduct a special food distribution focusing on SNAP recipients.
On November 15th at our special SNAP food distribution, we handed out 42 food bags which were enhanced with 2 pounds of frozen ground beef and a dozen eggs. Many of the recipients were unfamiliar with the food bank, having never needed our services before, and we gave out information regarding our programs in the hope that they would continue to join us every month.
On November 22nd, we distributed 146 large frozen turkeys to our clients and community partners. We are proud that our turkeys were part of a free holiday meal at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds in Sonoita which fed 156 people.
Our weekly Monday fresh vegetable distributions outside the Senior Citizens of Patagonia also saw a spike in volume, and we were pleased that during the entire month we were able to meet the Monday demand for perishable food.
On November 12th the federal government shutdown ended and SNAP food benefits began trickling onto our clients’ accounts. The current concern at the food bank is that there could be a repeat shutdown with catastrophic consequences again at the end of January.
Thankfully, the state of Arizona has stepped in to provide a modicum of stability and guaranteed SNAP benefits through the end of September 2026.
We are overwhelmed and amazed at the outpouring of resources and concern for the victims of this unfortunate situation.
While initial assessments were that food banks around the country would be strained to the breaking point by overwhelming demand, that did not happen. In East Santa Cruz County we were able to quickly adapt to the dramatic increase in demand and generate the resources and volunteers to do the heavy lifting necessary to deliver emergency food to the community.
While we are somewhat exhausted, we are also very exhilarated by the overwhelming concern of community members for those affected by this situation.
As we head into December, we continue to reflect and analyze the crisis and our response to it, to ensure we have the tools and resources to serve our clients suffering food insecurity into the future.
Thank you!
Jim