November 2024

Dear Friends of the Food Bank,

November is always a tremendously busy month at the food bank but also amazingly rewarding for our clients and volunteers. It is the month many of our seasonal volunteers return to pick up where they left off last spring.  Their energy is so inspiring and they lend a festiveness to our work as we share the experiences we have over the past months.

Our Monday veggie distributions have officially begun and by late in the month we were seeing a good variety of vegetables coming out of Mexico.

At our November 9th Supplemental Food Distribution, we handed out 116 food bags which included foods specially selected to complement our frozen turkeys which were distributed November 23th.

The Patagonia Lumber Company and Queen of Cups held a successful fundraiser for the Food Bank on November 11.  Music was provided by the Tucson Modern Jazz Quartet.  The music and wonderful charcuterie boards made for a magical evening in support of the Food Bank.

On November 23rd a passel of Food Bank volunteers, friends and supporters distributed 148 sixteen-pound frozen turkeys to our clients and community partners.  We welcomed help from Patagonia Youth Enrichment Center Director Anna Coleman and her daughter, and Vine Church Pastors Tom and Gardenia Moffett, while a ten-foot-tall inflatable turkey greeted clients coming to the Food Bank.  The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Department provided traffic control for congestion in the eastbound lane of Harshaw Avenue which allowed things to move quickly, and in 45 minutes everyone had their turkeys and headed home.

Our on-site volunteers and friends breathed a huge sigh of relief as once again, despite price increases on food, we were able to provide a sumptuous holiday meal for those in need.  Their smiles were contagious as we basked in the glow of community service.

In December we will welcome even more seasonal volunteers home for the winter as we continue our Monday veggie distributions and supplemental food bags.

Thank you so much for making this holiday season a wonderful time for everyone in eastern Santa Cruz County.

Jim