100,000 meals for hungry Silicon Valley families

Even during a global pandemic, Guadalupe and her family know that eating a meal together at the dinner table is critical to their well-being. The family is able to come together because of the pre-boxed food they receive from Second Harvest, which is distributed by our partner Urban Services YMCA’s Community Resource Center.

Guadalupe, her husband and their kids live in South San Francisco. When one of her children was diagnosed with autism, she became a stay-at-home mom to help support his development. Once the spread of COVID-19 forced everyone to shelter in place, her husband lost his hourly wages as an Uber/Lyft driver. “We don’t have any income right now,” Guadalupe said.

Guadalupe says her kids especially like getting spaghetti and fruit from the boxes, and her family also loves when she is able to make beans, rice and sauces from the vegetables and spices they receive. What Guadalupe loves is that she has food to give her kids every day.

“What we enjoy the most is the fact that we’re all sitting together, eating together.”

Guadalupe is just one of thousands of clients who visit food distribution sites every month. Second Harvest of Silicon Valley is making sure that is enough food for everyone that needs a healthy meal. Here are some of the challenges Second Harvest faces because of COVID-19:

• The increase in need: Before COVID-19, there was significant income inequality in Silicon Valley that led Second Harvest to serve an average of 270,000 clients/month. 
• We served over 500,000 people in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties in April 2020 — that is an 85% increase since the start of the COVID-19 cri
• In April, we distributed 9.7M pounds of food, up about 45% from pre-pandemic.

• The fluctuations of the food supply chain: Much like grocery stores, we are impacted by fluctuations in the supply chain, which means that we may not receive certain products in the same timeframe as we did before. We are working creatively to pack boxes with a variety of nutritious staples for our community.
• We are acquiring protein, dairy, perishables and fresh produce as expected, but are experiencing longer than normal wait times to receive dry good deliveries (rice, pasta, etc.).
• We are purchasing approximately 40% of our food. Pre-pandemic, we purchased about 25%, the remaining 75% coming from donations.

• Operational changes: Our former operational and distribution models have been completely redesigned so that we can properly enforce social distancing measures and decrease contact between staff, volunteers and clients.
• We are now pre-boxing food at our warehouses. Currently, of the total pounds of food we distribute to the community, over 70% is through pre-boxed methods.

• Before COVID-19, our network of partners hosted a total of three drive-thru distributions. Since mid-March, we have worked hard to bring that number up to over 90.
• We have quickly expanded our delivery model for homebound seniors and adults with disabilities. Through partnerships with Catholic Charities, Team Rubicon and others, we are delivering food to 6,000 clients in their homes.
• 116 California National Guard soldiers remain on-site packing boxes and their linguistic experts are assisting our Food Connection Hotline. They are with us through the end of May, and we are lobbying for an extension.
• With assistance from Cisco, we have secured a 40,000 sq. ft. warehouse from Prologis for six months at no charge. This space allows us to sort and pack more boxes of food.

Links:

• Second Harvest of Silicon Valley