A conversation with Erica Padilla-Chavez about an upcoming community symposium on food insecurity made something especially clear to me: These stories cannot live in isolation.
Food insecurity in Santa Cruz County is not one story. It’s hundreds of stories: seniors choosing between rent and groceries; farmworker families navigating gaps in assistance programs; schools stepping up to feed students; local organizations trying to meet growing demand with limited resources.
On Friday, Second Harvest Food Bank Santa Cruz County will host a half-day community symposium at Crocker Theater to bring those conversations together in one place. You can read more about the symposium itself, written by Lookout’s Tania Ortiz, here.
The event grew out of a realization shared by local leaders, volunteers and community partners after January’s SNAP delays created massive emergency food distribution lines at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds. Rotary volunteers, especially members of Rotary Club of Watsonville, witnessed firsthand how many local families rely on food assistance programs simply to get by. What they saw sparked deeper conversations with Second Harvest, Community Foundation Santa Cruz County and Cabrillo College about what happens if those safety nets continue to shrink.
As Erica, Second Harvest’s CEO, shared with me, the community may need to “practice feeding our community in a whole different way.”
That conversation prompted us at Lookout Santa Cruz to reflect on the reporting we’ve already done around food insecurity and how scattered those stories can feel over time. So we created a dedicated page bringing together our coverage on hunger, food access, community response efforts and policy changes affecting Santa Cruz County residents.
At Lookout, we believe local journalism plays an important role in helping communities understand not only what is happening, but why it matters and where conversations are headed next. Food insecurity touches every part of our county, often in ways that remain invisible until moments of crisis.
We’re looking forward to hearing what emerges from Friday’s symposium – the ideas, partnerships and solutions people bring forward – and we’ll continue covering these stories with the depth and attention they deserve.
Over time, we at Lookout Santa Cruz have also been proud to support Second Harvest Food Bank Santa Cruz County through community membership drives and awareness campaigns, helping connect our readers with opportunities to give back locally.
But the need doesn’t disappear after a holiday food drive or emergency response effort. Second Harvest and its partners work year-round to ensure families, seniors, students and neighbors across Santa Cruz County have reliable access to food.
If you’d like to support their work, you can learn more or make a donation here
