Food Bank News

Stamp out Hunger on Saturday!

Michelle Berg — Tue, 08 May 2012 22:42:54 +0000

On Saturday, May 12, people from across the country will partner with their letter carriers to help “Stamp Out Hunger.” Now in its 20^th year, the Stamp Out Hunger food drive is the largest single-day effort to combat hunger in America and the largest single-day food drive for Second Harvest Food Bank.

To participate, residents are asked to place a sturdy bag of non-perishable food items like peanut butter, pasta, rice, low-sugar cereal, and canned foods such as tuna, meat, stew, soup, and vegetables, by their mailbox before their mail is delivered on Saturday, May 12. Letter carriers will collect the food items and deliver them to their local food bank to then be distributed to the community to help those at risk of hunger.

Last year, Santa Clara and San Mateo County letter carriers collected more than 321,000 pounds of food for those in need. In 2011, drive organizers across the country collected more than 70 million pounds of total food donations for the eighth consecutive year.

Kathy Jackson addresses letter carriers at the Stamp Out Hunger Kick-off on May 5 in San Mateo

“We appreciate the support we receive each year from our local letter carriers,” says Kathy Jackson, CEO of Second Harvest. “Second Harvest provides food to nearly 250,000 people each month, an astonishing one in 10 people in our two-county region. That number is up nearly 50 percent since the recession started, so we are grateful for the generous donations we receive from the community and the many volunteers who make Stamp Out Hunger a success.”

Local letter carriers hope to surpass 400,000 pounds this year and you can help by leaving a donation by your mailbox and spreading the word. You can learn more about our local drive by reading this great article in the San Jose Mercury News.

Thank you for joining us to Stamp Out Hunger this Saturday!

A Mother’s Inspirational Strength

Michelle Berg — Mon, 07 May 2012 22:00:23 +0000

In honor of Mother’s Day, we want to share a story that epitomizes the strength and compassion of moms. Darleen, who can currently be found inspiring her colleagues to give to the Food Bank, once relied on food assistance to feed her children. This is Darleen’s story.

My name is Darleen. My upper-middle class life began to unravel the day my husband walked out on me and our two young children. I had devoted so many years to raising our family that people no longer found me employable. I did everything I could to make ends meet but it wasn’t enough. It was the most humiliating time in my life because I had to admit that I needed help. I worried about what people would think when I went to ask for food assistance, but I had to do it for my family.

Through it all, I worked hard and went back to school to keep my family nourished and safe. With some help along the way from both strangers and friends, we made it through. Today, I manage the fitness center at eBay and coordinated the recent Second Harvest holiday drive at eBay.

You never know who will benefit from your donations. It might be the person living next door to you trying to hang on to their house; it might be your former colleague who’s been forced to make tough choices since they were laid off. I hope people don’t forget that there are people who are hungry year-round. I am so passionate about Second Harvest because this is what it’s all about – helping each other!

People may look at me now and think, “Why does a successful manager care so much about the Food Bank?” I care because I remember what it was like to need food. For kids, food may not feel like a gift, but as a parent, I can tell you: whether it’s milk, turkey, eggs, or fresh produce, being able to feed your children is the greatest gift.

Foods of the Month: Canned Proteins

Doanan Phan — Wed, 02 May 2012 00:58:42 +0000

If the current weather is any indication, spring is giving way to brighter and warmer days. The sunniest season of all signals a time when most young children will be on summer break. When class is not in session, 1 out of every 5 children will not have access to the healthy and filling meals they receive while attending school. Second Harvest Food Bank recognizes this food gap and needs your help to provide basic building blocks like protein for the children we serve.

Why canned proteins?

This month we set our sights on another set of nutrient rich foods – canned proteins such as canned chicken, tuna and salmon. These thin circular metal cans should not be underestimated solely because of their diminutive sizes. They are all highly valuable sources of protein which is why “canned protein” always appears on our most needed foods list.

Proteins are the building blocks for our bones, muscles, and blood. The USDA’s website offers an abundance of information on healthy protein intake. They recommend protein portions of 5-6 ounces a day for adults and 2-6 ounces for children. Canned tuna is packed with omega-3s while it has lower mercury content than fresh seafood. It also provides the body with vitamin D and selenium. A daily dose of protein, such as seafood, helps with nervous system development for young children and can prevent heart disease for adults.

Our nutritionist Janet Hung explains, “Canned chicken and fish are great sources of protein, which can help repair and build muscles. If you’re lactose intolerant or not a fan of dairy foods, you can always turn to canned fish with bones. In fact, canned salmon is one of the most calcium-rich, non-dairy foods. One 3.5 oz serving with bones contains two thirds as much calcium as a cup of milk.”

How can you help?

There are three easy ways to help us provide healthy, protein-rich meals to local children and our neighbors in need. To learn more about how you can host a food drive for canned proteins, visit our website. Your online donations also help us purchase more protein to build meals. A gift of $10 feeds 20 children! To make a donation, please visit this page. If you are interested in making a food donation of canned protein, we happily accept food donations at all three of our locations.

Your support can bring us one step closer to achieving a hunger-free summer for local children and families in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties.

Village Harvest to the Rescue!

Michelle Berg — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 22:00:35 +0000

Village Harvest volunteer John Turner hauls a harvest of oranges

If it’s raining apples and oranges where you live, read on. Providing healthy food is a top priority for Second Harvest and by opening the gates to your bounty of backyard produce, you can give a neighbor in need access to fruits and vegetables while keeping your yard clean. Don’t know what to do or where to start? Local volunteer-run organization, Village Harvest, can help.

One of the ways Village Harvest helps is by providing tips for picking your own fruits along with a list of places you can donate them to, including Second Harvest Food Bank. Executive Director of Village Harvest, Craig Diserens, encourages everyone to, “Enjoy your own fruit, but don’t let the rest go to waste – donate whatever you don’t use!”

If it seems too daunting, Craig wants you to know, “It’s surprisingly easy to harvest and donate. Fruit trees can be picked without elaborate equipment or ladders.” In addition to the benefits of feeding local families, donating your extra produce also reduces nuisance and mess in your yard.

Village Harvest may be able to dispatch groups of volunteer gleaners for large harvests (150 pounds or more) or for residents who are physically unable to pick themselves. Visit www.villageharvest.org to offer your extra fruit or to learn more about donating your own harvest. If you do not have convenient Internet access, please call toll free (888) FRUIT 411.

Rodney Kahn goes out on a limb to rescue fruit

Every bag, branch, and bushel helps a bunch! Last year Village Harvest volunteers rescued over 200,000 pounds of produce. With your help, the harvests can grow.

Pick me, pick me!

There are many ways that you can be a part of the glean team. You can offer your high-yielding trees for picking, volunteer to pick produce around the community (which is great if you love to garden but don’t have your own to tend to!), or give your time to develop the infrastructure of this volunteer organization. Village Harvest is seeking volunteers with computer skills to plan and organize harvests, improve web tools, and grow documentation processes.

If you are ready to join the bunch, sign up today! Just think of all the produce you can save and families you can help.

Thank you,Village Harvest volunteers, for all your hard work!

Village Harvest volunteers set their sights on citrus

Eden Neighborhood Association Fruit Drive

Photo credits: Stan Sakai and Ginny Pyle

Charlene Chooses to do the Right Thing

Michelle Berg — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 17:00:29 +0000

My name is Charlene. I’ve received food from Second Harvest Food Bank for the past several years, and it means the world to me. But I also come to the Food Bank once a week to volunteer. And I come here for one specific reason.

For more than 20 years, I was an alcoholic. During that time, I didn’t give back or help those who needed it—my alcoholism made me a selfish person. So that’s why I’m here today sorting vegetables, packing boxes and doing whatever I can as a volunteer. It’s my way of trying to do the right thing. I’m proud to say I’ve now been sober for 20 years.

Now, when I stand over large boxes of vegetables and sort food for people who are hungry, my heart goes out to them: the seniors who are hungry and the children who wonder if they’ll eat dinner tonight. Sometimes I don’t take food home for myself because I know someone needs it more than I do.

It’s a joy for me to share what I have with others who are hungry. I do this simply because it’s the right thing to do. I’m overwhelmed when they write me notes, thanking me for what I have given them. With tears in their eyes, they thank me for even the smallest bag of food.

So now let me thank you for all you have done and continue to do for me. I appreciate you and your generosity. And you can be sure I’ll be joining you in this act of kindness.

-Charlene

Foods of the Month: Peanut Butter and Beans

Doanan Phan — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 19:04:29 +0000

Earlier this year, we profiled peanut butter and beans as part of our Food of the Month series.

Once again, we pull them into the spotlight to share the important role they play in providing a balanced diet for families and individuals we serve. In recent months, the prices for basic staples have risen by 57% for peanut butter and 17% for beans. These increased costs have forced the Food Bank to give out smaller portions to keep up with mounting food prices, but we don’t want to do that!

Why peanut butter and beans?

Peanut butter and beans are both shelf stable sources of protein and filled with an abundance of nutritious value. Protein is made up of amino acids that help people build and repair tissue. Some of the amino acids we need are sourced by foods we consume, which is why Second Harvest always has peanut butter and beans on our most-needed food items list.

How can you help?

NXP’s Second Harvest Champion Betty Steen, shows off some of the nuts of their efforts.

Hosting a targeted food drive to collect our foods of the month is valuable to our food pipeline. We have two local companies who created their own unique twists to encourage employee food drives that benefited Second Harvest Food Bank. Last year, NXP employees held a peanut butter drive. They donated both jars and cash, collecting a total of 1,472 jars of peanut butter!

SanDisk made March peanut butter month and added a PB drive to their spring cleaning office furniture sale to help Second Harvest provide this protein-rich food for families in need. In addition to hosting barrels to collect jars of peanut butter, they sold used office furniture for $5 apiece to allow Second Harvest to buy peanut butter and other much-needed foods. To double their impact, the SanDisk Community Sharing Fund matched all proceeds. The drive raised a total of $5,000 which allows us to buy 3,623 jars of peanut butter at current market prices!

Anyone can help Second Harvest Food provide nutrient rich meals by hosting a food drive to collect staples like peanut butter and beans. Your donations can be dropped off at any of our locations. Making an online donation also helps Second Harvest purchase more of these healthy basics for our clients. With your support, we can ensure peanut butter and beans reach the tables of those we serve.

Harvest of Knowledge 2012

Michelle Berg — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 00:00:36 +0000

All of us at Second Harvest are proud of the role we play in mobilizing our community to help strengthen local safety net organizations. Through hosting our 7^th Annual Harvest of Knowledge Conferences, we gathered hundreds of our community partners to share best practices and create a forum for idea sharing. The conference was a catalyst for improving social change and local hunger relief efforts.

Stanford's Dr. Christopher Gardner explains the role local hunger-relief organizations play in building a strong food system

Sessions on grassroots fundraising, volunteer best practices and maximizing communications aimed to strengthen organizational infrastructure while workshops about disaster preparedness, making healthy food choices and free community resources armed attendees with tools to best serve our neighbors in need. A food safety training course, resource fair, awards presentation and keynote address rounded out the day.

An eye-opening presentation from Stanford professor, Christopher Gardner, pulled all the ideas together and called attendees to join the sustainable food movement. Dr. Gardner taught the group of community leaders innovative ways to impact our local food system, actions that will improve the future of how we all eat and live.

Additionally, Second Harvest recognized agencies who have demonstrated notable service increases and individuals who are exceptional anti-hunger advocates. We honor the following award recipients for their extraordinary efforts.

Maureen Wadiak is honored with a McCown/Takalo Anti-Hunger Advocacy Award

Produce Award

Samaritan House Produce Mobile

Valley Medical Center Produce Mobile

Step Up Award

Antioch Baptist Church

Church of Christ

Mater Dolorosa Catholic Church

Most Holy Trinity Church

McCown/Takalo Anti-Hunger Advocacy Award

Rayna Lehman, AFL-CIO Community Services, San Mateo County Central Labor Council, Labor Liaison to United Way of the Bay Area

Maureen Wadiak, Community Services Agency

The Harvest of Knowledge would not have been possible without our generous hosts. Applied Materials sponsored our Santa Clara County conference on March 16th and Oracle hosted the March 30th event for our San Mateo County partners. We share our deepest gratitude with all workshop presenters, resource fair representatives, speakers and attendees for providing insight. Thank you!

Egg Farmers Donate 120,000 Eggs to Feed Local Families

Michelle Berg — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 19:19:32 +0000

Despite signs of economic recovery, record numbers of families in California and across America are currently relying on food assistance. Second Harvest Food Bank currently provides food for 1 in 10 people in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, and among the most needed foods are sources of high quality protein.

Eddie Olivera (center) is pictured with Second Harvest Warehouse Manager, Manny Bravo and Food Resources Manager, Rosanna Christian alongside their donation of 43,200 eggs

San Jose’s own Olivera Egg Ranch donated more than 64,800 eggs to local food banks, including a donation of 43,200 eggs to Second Harvest to help local families. Combined with a donation of 77,760 eggs from NuCal Foods, Second Harvest is egg-static to have 120,960 more eggs (10,080 dozen) to feed our neighbors in need.

Olivera Egg Ranch’s efforts are part of a national effort, organized by the United Egg Producers and Feeding America. For the fifth consecutive spring, America’s egg farmers are giving the Easter Bunny and families in need a helping hand by donating nearly 10 million fresh eggs. That brings the number of eggs farmers have contributed since 2008 to 60 million — equaling nearly 5 million dozen.

“Olivera Egg Ranch is proud to be partnering with the Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties to provide much-needed protein to the most needy in our community, especially during the Easter holiday season,” said Eddie Olivera of Olivera Egg Ranch.

For food banks across America, high-quality sources of protein, such as eggs, are especially needed and valued. According to the USDA, one large egg delivers six grams of protein, along with 13 essential nutrients, including choline, folate, iron and zinc. After a review of the nutrient composition of standard large eggs last year, the USDA concluded that the average amount of cholesterol was 14 percent lower, and vitamin D content was 64 percent higher, than previously measured.

“We are very grateful for this incredibly generous donation of eggs,” said Kathy Jackson, CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties. “It comes at a time when we are seeing double-digit increases in the cost of protein foods. So this will go a long way toward helping us feed local families who are struggling to put food on the table, particularly high-cost protein.”

The number of people Second Harvest Food Bank serves has increased by nearly 50 percent since the recession started in 2007. Second Harvest provides food to nearly 250,000 people each month in the two-county region it serves.

“If you’ve ever met an egg farmer, you know just how incredibly generous and giving these men and women are,” said Gene Gregory, president of United Egg Producers. “All year long, but especially at Easter, they proudly do what they can to support the communities in which they live and work.”

Thank you to Olivera Egg Ranch and NuCal Eggs for helping to keep this much-needed food in the mix for the families we serve.

Foods of the Month: Rice and Cereal

Michelle Berg — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 03:58:15 +0000

You see it at the grocery store and feel it at the pump. Rising food and fuel prices are impacting your budget. We’re feeling the pinch, too. While the need for basic, everyday foods is at an all-time high, their prices are also skyrocketing. Rice and cereal are two of these staples, with prices that have increased by 25% and 6%, respectively, over the last six months. Second Harvest uses your donations to buy the foods needed to round out a nutritious plate, but more expensive food means smaller portions. You can help us keep basics in the mix by donating these March foods of the month.

Why rice?

Rice is a global grain that knows no borders when it comes to enriching the health content of meals across the world. Rice comes in many shapes, sizes and colors – it’s as diverse as the populations that consume it! In addition to providing carbohydrates to fuel your body, it also contains several key nutrients, which is why the USDA has reserved a portion of MyPlate to be exclusively devoted to grains like rice. The USDA recommends 6 ounces of grains a day as part of the nation’s dietary guidelines.

Our Community Nutritionist Janet Hung explains, “It’s no surprise that rice is thrown at newly married couples during weddings, as a symbol of fertility, luck, and wealth. After all, rice is the primary dietary staple for more than half of the world’s population. Since brown rice is high in fiber, it gives a satisfying full feeling, and also eases digestion. It is also nutrient-dense and has over 15 vitamins and minerals.”

Why cereal?

Many say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and among Americans who eat it, cereal is the most popular choice. Like rice, cereal fills the important grain section of MyPlate or, perhaps, MyBowl. Hot cereal is easy to prepare and cold cereal can be enjoyed with milk, yogurt or by itself. Cereals also contain many important vitamins and minerals. Low-sugar options offer a quick and healthy start to the day, so it’s no wonder that the food pantries we serve call cereal a most-wanted food.

Unfortunately, with these price increases we have to buy smaller packages, and fewer of them, which is leaving MyPlate unbalanced.

How can I help?

You can help by donating rice and cereal, or hosting a drive to collect them where you live or work. All varieties, especially whole grains and low-sugar options, are welcome. Although 20-pound bags of rice are accepted, we do prefer smaller portions that can be distributed to individuals and families. You can also donate online to help Second Harvest buy more of the basics that keep our neighbors in need healthy.

Thank you for helping to fill the plate and keep basics in the mix!

Food of the Month: Beans for February

Doanan Phan — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 22:34:55 +0000

To continue our Food of the Month series, we are focusing on beans for February. As with peanut butter, beans have a long shelf life, they fill an important role in a balanced diet and are easy to prepare. For more information on our most-needed food items, check out our website.

If beans were to compete in the Healthy Food Olympics, they would surely collect many medals at the podium for being extra nutritious. Classified by the USDA as being a subgroup of vegetables, beans have long sustained a good reputation because of their versatility and variety, which can easily color one’s diet for the better. They’re ubiquitous across many cuisines, whether it’s black beans, cannellini beans, pinto beans, garbanzo beans or lima beans. These legumes can add texture and richness to salads, baked dishes, desserts, dips, chilis, soups and pastas. From morning to evening, beans can be consumed at any part of your day.

The nutritional value of beans is undeniable. They are low in fat, filled with protein and contain complex carbohydrates that can give you plenty of energy for your day. Not to mention they also have plenty of potassium, antioxidants and folate, a B vitamin that helps with cell development for pregnant women.

According to Janet Hung, our Community Nutritionist, “Beans are a tiny, powerful vegetable with a whole bunch of health benefits. They are high in fiber, which eases digestion and keeps you regular. They also offer an excellent source of protein and iron, especially for vegetarians. It’s no wonder that beans are used in many cultures worldwide. They’re a versatile little legume that packs a nutritious punch while being easy on the budget.”

For more information about the health benefits of eating beans visit the USDA’s MyPlate webpage. For a short and colorful feature on how to prepare dried or canned beans, check out this Real Simple magazine article.

You can help get beans onto the plates of the people we serve in our community! By hosting a drive or mini collection where you live, work or play, you can help the families have more access to nutritious beans. Register for a drive today or drop some off at our San Jose or San Carlos warehouse.