Second Harvest adding sites, doubling volunteer shifts as demand for food surges after pause in SNAP benefits

Federal food aid abruptly dried up for around 35,000 Santa Cruz County residents on Nov. 1 as a result of the government shutdown, and the effect was nearly immediate. Over the past week, community members flooded food banks, pantries and nonprofit organizations by the hundreds in search of food. 

Second Harvest Food Bank Santa Cruz County expects demand to continue to rise until the funds are reinstated. In the meantime, the nonprofit ramping up deliveries, adding more pickup locations at schools and county offices and educating new customers on how to take advantage of the food bank’s web of distribution sites at organizations across the county. 

More than 300 people showed up on Second Harvest’s doorstep in Watsonville on Wednesday alone, said the organization’s CEO, Erica Padilla-Chavez. But the food bank doesn’t typically hand out food directly at its warehouses. Instead, it delivers bulk items to more than 60 organizations, which in turn deliver food into the hands of households throughout the county. 

Families and individuals who had never picked up food before and were unfamiliar with the proper procedures caused confusion, Padilla-Chavez said.

“A lot of them have not sought food at our distribution sites with our partners. So they’re Googling ‘food bank’ and they’re getting directed here,” she said. “We’re not designed for that kind of distribution.” Food bank employees quickly gathered boxes of supplies for them to take home, as well as educational materials on how to access their local distribution site. 

At other organizations, demand more than doubled, she said. One site served 130 people this week rather than its normal 60. At another location, foot traffic jumped from 110 people to 230. Calls to the food bank’s hotline increased 60% over the past week. 

Staff expected a gradual increase in demand for food, said Padilla-Chavez, so the sudden surge of people showing up to ask for food assistance from organizations across the county came as a surprise. 

In response, the food bank scheduled regular meetings with leaders at groups like Grey Bears in Live Oak and Watsonville’s Salud Para La Gente in order to meet demand as needed. They’re also preparing to add more pickup sites at schools and county offices, where people are already asking questions about why their EBT cards — a debit card used for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits — aren’t working. 

Padilla-Chavez said she believes that demand will keep going up until benefits are reinstated. “When you’re talking about over 30,000 people impacted, you’re going to see results in multiple ways,” she said. “I think what we’re seeing here is what comes with something of this magnitude happening to so many people at one time.”

A wave of community support has helped the food bank meet the extraordinary demand. On Tuesday, the county board of supervisors approved a $500,000 donation to Second Harvest. Other local governments and philanthropic organizations also pledged financial support, for a total of $1 million. Volunteer shifts at the warehouse have doubled to keep up with rising demand, and every slot has been filled, said Padilla-Chavez. 

“What that says to me, is that in this county, there is a very strong value for ensuring that our neighbors don’t go hungry,” she said. 

The surge hasn’t been strong across the board. Paul Machlis, the manager of the food pantry at Mountain Community Resources in Felton, said the organization prepared for more households seeking help this week, but didn’t see a noticeable increase. It gets nearly all of its food from Second Harvest, and distributes it to around 125 households every week. 

“In our case, it didn’t feel like we had a bigger than usual turnout, but we were prepped,” said Machlis. 

In Watsonville, organizers at the Veterans Memorial Building saw a “slight increase” in the number of veterans it served at the Tuesday food pantry, said founder LoisRae Guin, a retired U.S. Navy nurse. The service is limited to former and active servicemembers and their families, and distributes canned goods, frozen meat and fish, bakery items and produce to around 70 households. 

“Several new people who came and got food said they were related to veterans. They were told they have to bring proof next time, because we are supposed to be limited to veterans, but you can’t turn people away if they’re hungry,” said Guin. 

Twin Lakes Church in Aptos has seen a wave of new interest at its Wednesday drive-through pickup over the past month — weeks before SNAP benefits were cut off, said outreach associate director Robin Spurlock. Typically, the church serves around 180 households, but by early October that number bumped up to around 240. 

“The first time it jumped, we were like, whoa, what happened,” she said. “It was right after the government shutdown, so perhaps it was people who had been furloughed, or preparing for changes to SNAP benefits.” 

In addition to deliveries from Second Harvest, church members give food and money to support the weekly pantry, which provides a grocery bag of dried goods such as peanut butter, canned vegetables and tortillas, a bag of fresh produce and a protein, such as eggs, frozen chicken or plant-based burgers. 

“We are keeping the food pantry at the forefront of our congregation, and also helping Second Harvest with their food drive, because we in turn get stuff from them,” said Spurlock. 

The food bank is designed to be responsive to emergencies, and so far, is meeting the demand with the help of the community, said Padilla-Chavez: “We are doing the best we can, and I’m so proud of how this community is stepping up right now.”

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