Campus food drive launches for holiday season

To: UC Santa Cruz Community

From:  John Steele, UCSC holiday food drive chair

Another holiday season is upon us, and with it comes our annual UC Santa Cruz Holiday Food Drive which works in cooperation with Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Cruz County providing healthy meals to our friends and neighbors in need. The drive runs between Thanksgiving weekend and the winter break.

One in four children in our county are going without enough meals.  We know that this can have a very tangible impact on their social and educational development as well as their long-term health. The people who need calories the most often get the lowest quality ones available as determined by price. That is why we are honored to work with Second Harvest Food Bank, the healthiest food bank in the nation. Second harvest distributes over 65 percent of their meals in the form of fresh fruits and vegetables while at the same time educating their clients on how to eat smart.

Last year the UCSC holiday food drive raised more than 150,000 meals for our friends and neighbors in need, making the campus the third largest contributor in the county.

Please make a donation to support this great cause, either in one of our campus pantry barrels or by using the donation envelopes distributed through campus mail. Just one dollar provides healthy meals with a much lower carbon footprint than pantry donations.

Your donations are secure through campus mail services. Donation envelopes are being distributed this week. Please make checks payable to Second Harvest Food Bank and mark your affiliation on the memo line.

Please keep an eye out for this year’s raffle.

You can learn more about the drive and how to make donations at our website: http://holidayfooddrive.ucsc.edu

Thank you for your continued support.