Santa Cruz County area Rotary clubs joined together at Second Harvest Food Bank in Watsonville for the annual Rotary Barrel Wrap on Saturday, October 12th. Each year hundreds of large food donation collection barrels are wrapped for the Holiday Food & Fund Drive which officially kicks off this year on November 7th.
Willy Elliott-McCrea, Second Harvest CEO, welcomed Rotary volunteers from Watsonville, Capitola-Aptos, San Lorenzo Valley, Santa Cruz, Freedom, and Scotts Valley along with community members who spent the morning wrapping barrels to be ready to roll, so to speak, out to the community. The large barrels will be placed around Santa Cruz County to collect non-perishable items throughout November and December. Mini barrels, which are smaller versions of the large barrels, and are used to collect funds, were also wrapped and readied to be placed throughout the community.
In addition to the barrel wrap, Sunrise Rotary got a jump-start on the drive and presented Second Harvest with a check for $2500 (equivalent to 10,000 healthy meals) the Aptos/Capitola Rotary followed suit as they announced they have already raised $30,000 (equivalent to 120,000 healthy meals) towards the Holiday Food & Fund Drive from the proceeds of their John Laird Roast event which was held earlier this year. Each year, organizations, businesses, and individuals come together to raise food and funds for the sole purpose of helping end hunger in Santa Cruz County. The Holiday Food and Fund Drive is Second Harvest’s biggest of the year, and 100% of proceeds raised will go to its network of 200 pantries, soup kitchens, recovery centers, assisted living homes, and food and nutrition programs throughout the county. Every month, 55,000 residents of Santa Cruz County depend upon food provided by Second Harvest and its agencies.
The Holiday Food & Fund Drive Kick-Off Luncheon will take place on Thursday, November 7th to “officially” start the drive which runs through January 15, 2020. Anyone interested in holding a food/fund drive or finding out more about this campaign are encouraged to attend. The event includes a fabulous lunch, inspiring guest speakers, and food/fund drive resources.
Kick-off Lunch tickets are available at www.the foodbank.org/kickoff2019. and community members for getting those barrels “Ready to Roll”!
View all the photos HERE