Second Harvest Holiday Drive: More than 5 Million Meals

COMMUNITY NEWS

Second Harvest Holiday Drive: More than 5 Million Meals!

Facing a second year of pandemic upheaval, Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Cruz County surpassed its goal of raising enough money during its Holiday Food & Fund Drive to deliver 5 million meals to those in need.

On March 3, its first in-person indoor event in more than two years, the 50-year-old food bank announced that the community raised the equivalent of 5,025,166 healthy meals.

The campaign ran from Nov. 4, 2021, to Jan. 15, aiming to meet a need for food that had doubled in the pandemic from 55,000 to 110,000 people a month.

Each dollar helps Second Harvest deliver four meals.

Recognized local businesses include Martinelli’s, Fleet Feet, SUP Shack., Santa Cruz County Bank and Universal Audio.

S. Martinelli & Co., which makes the Gold Medal apple juice in Watsonville, made a company record-setting donation: Nearly 87,000 meals.

“I’m extremely proud of the Martinelli’s team for embracing this campaign and setting a donation record,” said Gun Ruder, president and CEO of S. Martinelli & Co. “We are committed to doing all that we can to provide nourishment to those who need it most.”

The company sponsors the eyecatching Second Harvest trucks that deliver food to its partners.

Throughout the year, Martinelli’s donates its award-winning juices and sparkling ciders, which are 100% juice made from U.S. grown fresh apples without added sweeteners or chemical preservatives.

“The Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Cruz County relies on the generous and ongoing support of our corporate partners, like Martinelli’s,” said Richelle Noroyan, corporate and community relations director, Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Cruz County.

Big Step

Santa Cruz County Bank won the Big Step Award, collecting the equivalent of 32,060 healthy meals — an increase of 12,000 over the prior year, thanks to the generosity of its customers, employees, and Board of Directors.

Trudie Ransom hosts the Harbor Witches Paddle fundraiser.

“We’ve been acutely aware of the extraordinary need for support, heightened and amplified by the pandemic,” said Krista Snelling, Santa Cruz County Bank president and CEO. “We’re so grateful to be part of this hugely successful campaign to fight food insecurity. Our entire community stepped up!”

In Scotts Valley, Universal Audio, employees of the award-winning professional recording hardware and software company, raised $7,891 for meals — and the company matched that amount for a total donation of $15,782.

At Fleet Feet Aptos, Aubrey Curl, the operating partner, said the running store raised more than $4,000 by sponsoring the 9th annual Run for Pie, a 5K race on Thanksgiving. In 2020, when the Lighted Boat Parade was cancelled, Trudie Ransom, owner of the SUP Shack, hosted the Santa SUP at the Santa Cruz Harbor, attracting 60 people in perfect weather and raising $2,000 for Second Harvest. In 2021, Ransom upped her efforts, hosting the 10th annual Harbor Witches Paddle, aiming to raise $1,000 for Second Harvest. More than 30 people showed up in their witch’s finest and paddled around the harbor.

“5 Million Meals” page 10

“Sliced Bread” from page 6

Modern factory breads are made from processed flour, from which the process of sifting and bleaching has removed all the vital nutrients. Then all that good stuff is sold separately as bran or as cattle feed.

When first introduced to white bread, Europeans saw it as an emblem of status. It has taken a few hundred years for today’s artisan bakers to remind us that browner bread is better for us. Indeed, most white flour has been milled to be lacking in all the heart-healthy parts of grains. Could it be that our cows are eating better than we are?

Artisan bakers have also reminded us that, when bread is sold and purchased in an unsliced loaf, it retains its freshness longer. You can slice it thick or thin as any meal demands.

Sliced bread has always carried a backhanded suggestion of ecology:

Less waste because you can always toast that last slice. What it’s done, in reality, is made us forget just how many ways we can use our stale bread. By storing a hearty peasant loaf in a paper bag to let it dry out and prevent it from molding, daysold bread can be made into breadcrumbs or croutons. We can tear it up and put it in our soup or make bread pudding.

Sliced bread has given birth to toast— the bourgeoise act of wasting resources by cooking something twice. I’m as guilty as everyone else. I love toast. (There, I said it. Don’t tell my wife.). But — as I often joke with her — anything can taste good if it’s toasted and slathered with enough butter. Even cardboard.

Finally, you can imagine how much water has been wasted in rinsing off plates for the dishwasher — dishes which, in a perfect universe, would have been cleaned at the table, as the French do, with a piece of crust and crumb.

Feel free to email me at joe@gocapitola. com and I’ll send you my favorite recipe for using sliced white bread: Spiadini— Mozzarella en Carozza. n