The tables have turned since the Mayflower landed on Plymouth Rock in 1620 – now many locals are struggling to celebrate the annual Thanksgiving feast.
Maro Lopez, 31 of Morgan Hill, succinctly offered a good reason to help provide food assistance and other donations to those in need this holiday season as he walked into the St. Catherine Parish Reachout Food Pantry Tuesday afternoon.
“When you donate you don’t ever think about being the one on the other side of the fence, needing help,” said Lopez, who has three children and a wife in graduate school.
He just got laid off from his job at a Gilroy car dealership about two weeks ago.
The Reachout Food Pantry, like many others in South County, is supplied by Second Harvest Food Bank. The facility, located in a mobile unit behind the church on Peak Avenue, offers clients who qualify – currently about 400 families – a monthly supply of basic groceries.
“It’s not too much but it’s something,” said Lopez, who plans to spend Thanksgiving with family in Monterey County.
The need for food for approximately 10 percent of the Santa Clara County population that suffers from food insecurity heightens during the winter holidays, according to spokespeople at the Second Harvest Food Bank, which serves about 250,000 people in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties and helps supply many of the local food pantries including Reachout in Morgan Hill and St. Joseph’s Family Center in Gilroy.
In Gilroy, St. Joseph’s Family Center in Gilroy is in need of about 400 more turkeys to serve its clients traditional Thanksgiving cuisine, according to Vicky Martin, St. Joseph’s Pantry Coordinator. Interested donors are asked to donate 10 to 13-pound turkeys. They can also donate turkeys through Gilroy High School’s and Christopher High School’s “Turkey Challenge.”
About 700 families are signed up for Thanksgiving supplies at St. Joseph’s Family Center, and there is a waiting list, Martin said. And that’s just for Thanksgiving, as the nonprofit expects to sign up at least 700 families for its Christmas distribution.
“We would love to be able to fulfill that commitment to get each family a turkey for Thanksgiving,” Martin said. “We are doing pretty good on all the other supplies (other than turkeys).”
The organization’s Second Harvest’s holiday food drive includes a vigorous effort to collect up to 12,000 turkeys for families in need to enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving meal.
As of Wednesday, Second Harvest was still in need of about 5,600 more turkeys to distribute to clients, according to Tami Cardenas, Vice President of development and marketing at Second Harvest.
“We continue to face unprecedented need this holiday season despite the improving economy,” Cardenas said. “Unfortunately the improvement in the economy has not translated into jobs for many of the families we serve, and the high cost of living makes it difficult.”
Since the beginning of the 2008 recession, Second Harvest has seen a 50-percent increase in the number of clients in need of food assistance – and that number disturbingly keeps rising, Cardenas said.
The Salvation Army in Gilroy could use some turkeys, but they’re particularly in need of pumpkin pies to serve for the organization’s annual Thanksgiving dinner, which takes place Wednesday, Nov. 26, according to Ellen Torchio of the Salvation Army. They are hoping for about 300 people to attend the dinner.
The Reachout pantry will not be able to provide uncooked turkeys to clients in time for Thanksgiving unless they get more donations, according to volunteer Gina Colton. The local food pantry has been receiving less food from Second Harvest in recent months.
Interested turkey donors can drop off uncooked birds at the Reachout food pantry, which is located in a portable unit behind St. Catherine Church on Peak Avenue.
The holiday needs extend beyond Thanksgiving, and Second Harvest has a goal to raise about $13.2 million in donations this holiday season, Cardenas said.
“The holiday is our most critical season,” she said.
Crossroads Christian Center in Morgan Hill will include turkeys in their monthly grocery boxes for clients, which will be distributed Tuesday while supplies last, according to church secretary Denise Rees. The church usually serves more than 100 families each month – a number which typically spikes in November.
“We could use frozen turkeys, to be dropped off Monday or Tuesday morning, and cash donations always helpful,” Rees said.
Gloria Mendez, 36 of San Martin, plans to spend Thanksgiving dinner with friends in Gilroy, but in previous years she and her children have attended holiday meals at St. Catherine Church and St. Mary Church in Gilroy.
Mendez, a single mother of six children, has acquired groceries from the Reachout food pantry, off and on, for about the last six years. Despite the hardship, Mendez is still thankful with the holidays approaching.
“I’m thankful we are healthy, and we have a place to live,” Mendez said.
To donate
• St. Joseph’s Family Center, 7950 Church St., Gilroy, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
• St. Catherine Church Reachout food pantry, 17400 Peak Ave., 1 to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
• Salvation Army Gilroy, 200 W. Fifth St., Gilroy (particularly in need of pumpkin pies).
• Drop off turkeys at Second Harvest’s Curtner Center (750 Curtner Ave.) and the Bing Center (1051 Bing St.), both in San Jose. The Curtner Center is open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the week, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. The Bing Center is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the week, and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.
WHERE TO GET A MEAL
Thanksgiving meal
• St. Catherine Catholic Church, 17400 Peak Ave., Morgan Hill, 6 to 8 p.m. Nov. 27.
• Morgan Hill United Methodist, 17175 Monterey Road, Morgan Hill, 6 to 7 p.m. Nov. 27, (408) 779-4044.
• Salvation Army Gilroy, 200 W. Fifth St., Gilroy, 12 to 1 p.m. Nov. 27, (408) 848-5373.
Food pantries and hot meals
• St. Joseph’s Family Center, 7950 Church St., Gilroy, provides hot meals 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday; as well as grocery baskets to families who qualify Monday through Friday.
• Crossroads Christian Center, 145 Wright Ave., Morgan Hill, offers monthly food distribution the last Tuesday of every month. Assistance on Nov. 26 will include turkeys for Thanksgiving, while supplies last.
• Reachout, St. Catherine Catholic Church, 17400 Peak Ave., Morgan Hill, offers monthly food and outreach assistance, 1 to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
• Salvation Army Gilroy, 200 W. Fifth St., Gilroy, food distribution Monday through Wednesday and Friday.
• Advent Lutheran Church, 16870 Murphy Ave., Morgan Hill, provides hot meals 5 to 6 p.m. every Tuesday.
• Cathedral of Faith, at the Morgan Hill Community and Cultural Center, 17000 Monterey Road, provides food assistance on Wednesdays and Thursdays (but not on Thanksgiving).
• Community Christian Church, 305 West Main Ave., Morgan Hill, provides hot meals starting at 6 p.m. every Thursday (but not Thanksgiving).
• Morgan Hill United Methodist, provides a hot meal every Wednesday from 6 to 7 p.m.
