Grey Bears is a homegrown solution for sustainable living. The well-acclaimed thrift store, voted Best Thrift Store in Santa Cruz by the Good Times 2025, gives new life to preloved items and the robust recycling center makes sure that plastics are kept out of our landfills. The best part? It helps fund the Grey Bears Healthy Food Bag program, where a senior can receive a 10-pound bag of produce for less than a dollar a week. With sustainability as a cornerstone of this nonprofit, Grey Bears strives to nourish local seniors in an earth-friendly way.
The environmentally-conscious and senior-centered model goes back to the inception of the nonprofit in 1973 when 23-year-old UCSC graduate Kristina Mailliard, and her partner, Gary Denny, 32, were surprised to discover the undernourishment among elderly members of our community. Motivated by compassion, they began gleaning fruits and vegetables from their own gardens and shared them with local seniors.
Today, Grey Bears not only provides nourishment for seniors in our community through the Healthy Food Bag program but also practices both traditional and modern-day grocery store gleaning, giving short-dated and imperfect foods a home on local plates or in local pantries. Volunteer drivers go out regularly to grocery stores across the county to pick up produce and vegetables that may not always be the cream of the crop, but it are certainly a great meal for a local senior bear in need.
“I hate food waste. As someone who has worked in food service for most of my life, I have seen the abundance of food that gets wasted. As a Grey Bears volunteer, I get to pick up (food) shares from New Leaf and other stores around Santa Cruz. It’s heart-warming. The staff at New Leaf is always happy to see the Grey Bears truck pull up and take the (food) shares off their hands – knowing it’s going to feed someone in need of a delicious, nutritious meal!” – Dave Mitchell, Grey Bears Volunteer Driver
This past year, New Leaf, one of Grey Bears’ Food Recovery Partners, donated 50,207 lbs. of produce and vegetables to help nourish our local seniors and community members. Fixed incomes and recent cuts to food assistance programs like SNAP and EBT have left many seniors choosing between buying medication or groceries; partnerships like these are crucial in order to ensure our most vulnerable community members have reliable access to quality food. Meanwhile, these partnerships also help reduce food waste, a leading contributor to methane gas emissions.
“Since joining New Leaf over seven years ago, I’ve been trying to find more ways to work with the Grey Bears team. They make giving back to the community easy by getting extra products that we have on hand to local seniors, new uses for older equipment that we no longer need, and have helped to prevent waste going into local landfills while constantly working to better the lives of the community. Their team is always open to working together, and I am happy to say that New Leaf and Grey Bears is a strong partnership that will continue for years to come.” – Robin Nardello, Community Programs Manager, New Leaf Community Market.
Grey Bears has a wide array of farmers, growers, and grocery store partners that fuel its Monday–Friday Food Distribution and Hot Meals for Seniors at its Mid-County campus, lovingly prepared by Sandy Johnson-Dexel, the Grey Bears Kitchen Manager and her volunteer kitchen team.
Sandy, a wonderful chef, who used to own her own catering business, felt the effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic firsthand and had to close her business down. When she came to Grey Bears to donate her catering supplies, she found out that they were on the hunt for a new Kitchen Manager. It was a perfect match!
“I came to Grey Bears a little over 4 years ago, we were serving 40 to 60 people daily. With my diverse food service background of 25 years, I began to build an awesome team of volunteers. We work together to take donated foods and transform them into delicious hot meals: breakfast, lunches, salads and sandwiches. Overall, it really helps to be proud of what you serve. The big plus is the fact that we’re feeding and helping folks that might not otherwise be able to help themselves. Now up to 200 to 300 people daily. It makes the hard work worth it.” – Sandy Johnson-Dexel, Grey Bears Kitchen Manager
In just this past year alone Grey Bears rescued 2 million pounds from local farms and grocery stores—an increase of over 150,000 lbs from the previous year. That translates to 21,886 visits to the Grey Bears Market and 63,000 meals served to seniors and community members, 55% of those who utilize rely on SNAP/EBT. Grey Bears on-site Grey Bears Food Distribution has helped 12,000 households in Santa Cruz County receive at least one free bag of groceries per week.
According to the 2024 Santa Cruz County Master Plan for Aging, by the year 2034, nearly 1 in 3 residents will be over the age of 60. As our population ages, the need for sustainable, community-supported food programs will only continue to grow.
Grey Bears remains ready to give local seniors access to sustainably-sourced, nutritious food, and invites you to join in making a difference.
For less than $1/week, you can provide groceries to a local senior for an entire year.
That’s just $50 to feed a senior for 12 months.
Together, we can give local seniors the bear necessities, in a way that benefits our planet and our local community. Join Grey Bears in powering a sustainable food system for Santa Cruz County at greybears.org.
Are you a senior who needs food? Grey Bears is here to help:
Call 831-479-1055, visit greybears.org or stop by the Grey Bears office at 2710 Chanticleer Avenue, Santa Cruz, CA.
