Second Harvest Food Bank’s Food For Children program has been providing healthy food to children and families for over 20 years. Every now and then we receive an uplifting story explaining how this program is helping someone in need. The following story was sent to us this week from the Early Start program, a PVUSD special education program for families with infants/toddlers with special needs:
6/10/20
We, the staff at Early Start, a PVUSD special education program for families with infants/toddlers with special needs serving south Santa Cruz county, would like to give “Second Harvest Food Bank” a very warm “thank you” for providing at least 12 of our families every two weeks with a little extra help feeding their families during this COVID pandemic. Although the effects of having an infant or toddler with special needs spans beyond the economic divide, many of the families we work with were already in great need even before the current SIP restrictions. Some of our families have thus been pushed into further need. Furthermore, some of our families who have infants/toddlers considered “health impaired” or “medically fragile”, are housebound due to risk of acquiring the virus. Needless to say, the need is there and we are so grateful and indebted to the Second Harvest Food Bank for their generosity at this time.
One family that comes to our minds is the family of “Maya” (pseudonym). She is an adorable infant who just turned 15 months with Down Syndrome and a recent recipient of a heart “pacemaker”. Both of her parents usually work in the agriculture industry but because baby Maya has spent some time up at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, her father had missed a lot of work. Baby Maya has four older brothers who have all helped us tremendously with their “tech savvy” skills, set up “virtual home visits” with them on their district issued “Chromebooks” since the SIP. This has been especially timely as our staff have rejoiced in watching baby Maya “eat” the cooked vegetables from the “sopita” her mother has lovingly prepared from the bounty provided by the “Second Harvest Food Bank! This may not seem like a “big deal” but it means so much to a baby who has gained enough strength to eat by mouth instead of receiving the majority of her nutrients from an Nasal Gastro (NG) tube! Simple developmental milestones do not come “for granted” with the families we work with.
Thank you so much for allowing us to share our gratitude made possible by your organization!
This is why we do what we do. We do it for baby Maya, her family, and others in need of healthy food and nutrition. One child hungry is one too many and Second Harvest Food Bank’s Food For Children program will continue to make sure all children have the food and nutrition they need to be successful in school and in life.
You can find out more about Second Harvest Food Bank’s Food For Children program here. You can also make a donation to the program here.
Be on the look out for our virtual Food For Children “Fueling their Future” campaign coming in September. The Food For Children “Fueling Their Future” campaign will be in lieu of our Santa Cruz Chefs’ Dinner which, for the last 20 years, has provided needed funds for the Food For Children program. This beloved event will return in September 2021. Everyone will still get a chance to support this award winning program during our Food For Children “Fueling their Future” campaign.