December 2024

Dear Friends of the Food Bank,

Did you know that the ESCCC Food Bank is in its 30^th year of service to the community?  We were granted “Not-for-profit” status in August 1994. It is my absolute pleasure to carry on this long-standing tradition of community volunteers taking care of community members in eastern Santa Cruz County.

With a burst of energy and motivation provided by our resident and seasonal volunteers, we created and distributed 76 Supplemental Food Bags, containing a variety of holiday foods as well as beef steaks and roasts donated by South32, at our regular December Saturday distribution.

We have been including frozen ground beef in our supplemental food bags every other month alternating with canned chicken and tuna.  Many of the larger cuts of meat (too large for individual distribution) will be provided to our community partners, the Patagonia Senior Citizen’s Center and the Patagonia Youth Enrichment Center.

Our Monday veggie distributions outside the Senior Center in Patagonia have been well attended and we have a good variety of vegetables from our partner Borderlands Produce Rescue.  This is the first big rush of the produce harvest and we should be seeing a great variety of vegetables to distribute in the coming weeks.

The Patagonia Lumber Company has graciously offered to host a Food Bank canned food donation bin at their establishment. We prefer donations of non-perishable canned goods such as chicken, tuna, beans, corn and peanut butter and jelly.

Thank you so much for your support of the food bank, which makes this winter a little easier for everyone in need in eastern Santa Cruz County.

Jim