MANTECA, Calif. — This holiday season, ABC10 is working with food banks across the region to help people in need, including the Second Harvest of the Greater Valley in Manteca.
The nonprofit is seeing a growing number of families looking for help putting food on the table and they need your help.
In California, an estimated 17% of kids don’t know where their next meal is coming from. In San Joaquin County, that number is even higher at 19%. It’s a statistic fueling Second Harvest of the Greater Valley.
“I’m hearing stories from moms and dads that never thought they would ever have to come to a food bank, but that mentality of 'there's always someone worse off than me' is starting to go away as people's budgets are getting tighter and tighter,” said CEO Jessica Vaughan.
The food bank is in the business of putting food on the table for hundreds of thousands of people in not only San Joaquin County, but seven other counties, too.
“Over the last year the need has really changed. We're starting to see more families and more working class Americans that are coming in and getting the help from the food bank than ever before,” said Vaughan.
Amber Guthrie is one of the food bank’s volunteers. She sees firsthand the growing need and the profound gratitude.
“Getting the hugs from the parents to say thank you so that they have food to eat. Food should be a right, not a privilege,” said Guthrie.
For Ann King, volunteering at Second Harvest for the last 14 years has been a privilege, getting a front row seat to the good in humanity.
“I think it’s just amazing, people give what they can,” said King. “We had one person who sent in an envelope, and it had a dime. It was what she could afford.”
For both Ann and Amber, the message is clear: share whatever you can.
“My mother had a saying - if you have, share. So, you have something, then you should share it,” said King.
“If everybody said, ‘Ok I'm not going to have a Starbucks for the day,’ how many people could that help feed,” said Guthrie.
