Annual holiday food drive under way

To: UC Santa Cruz Colleagues

From: Academic Senate and Staff Advisory Board

The Academic Senate and Staff Advisory Board invite you to join us in donating nonperishable food and cash to the Second Harvest Food Bank Holiday Food Drive. Our goal this year is to collect 75,000 pounds of food and cash-equivalent donations toward a community-wide goal of 1.6 million pounds.

Donation envelopes were distributed to mailboxes around campus last week. Please make your check payable to Second Harvest Food Bank and write "UCSC food drive" in the memo line. Donation bags can be sent to your office if you call ext. 9-4852. We ask you to fill the bag or write a check by November 30. A campus Mail Services' truck will be stationed at the entrance to campus on Friday, November 30, to allow drop off of collection bags and checks. You can also leave your bag at your Mail Stop or send your check anytime in the donation envelope through campus mail.

For every dollar donated, Second Harvest is able to distribute more than $9 worth of food. A $10 cash donation provides a family with an average of 50 meals.

Second Harvest Food Bank is a nonprofit organization providing food and basic necessities to people in need. Second Harvest supports a network of approximately 160 human service agencies and programs that serve more than 45,000 people every month, 48 percent of whom are children.

Food collected during the Holiday Food Drive is used throughout the winter months. Financial contributions received during the holidays make it possible for Second Harvest Food Bank to gather and distribute $6 million worth of food during the year. Visit www.thefoodbank.org to learn more about how your contributions can make a difference.

IMPORTANT NOTE: For every $1 donated, the Food Bank credits UCSC with 3 pounds worth of food. For example, $5 equals 15 pounds toward our goal.

Please join us in the effort to increase donations to Second Harvest Food Bank by supporting UCSC's annual Holiday Food Drive. The need for donations from the community is even more important then ever.