COVID-19 and Santa Clara County’s stay-at-home order might have changed your traditional holiday festivities, but for those in need of food assistance this week — we have information on available resources that can help you.

Last week, Mayor Sam Liccardo announced an expansion of food distribution efforts throughout the City of San José during the two-week Winter Holidays, where an additional 100,000 meals are now being provided for vulnerable residents, seniors, children, and displaced individuals.  

Meals are pre-packaged and will be available for pick up at multiple food distribution sites during New Year’s week. Visit bit.ly/SJWinterMealsTracker to find a location near you. Photo taken by John Ryan Amayun.

"We're seeing incredible progress in battling this very serious issue,” said Liccardo during a virtual press conference last Tuesday.

“Some of our partners have been doing it for a long long-time and have been carrying the heavy load, such as Second Harvest. We're grateful just to be a part, to see how we can help them scale and be able to serve more of our residents,” added Liccardo.

Together with local organizations and nonprofits, the City is currently coordinating with community partners to expand winter meal access at multiple drive-thru locations throughout San José.

Residents in need of food assistance can find nearby meal distribution sites by checking out the Winter Holidays Day-By-Day Tracker at bit.ly/SJWinterMealsTracker for updated distribution information.

Residents in need of food assistance are encouraged to arrive at distribution sites early to avoid long queues. Photo Courtesy of Nicholas Georgoff.

With increased demand for food assistance services during the holiday season, the Mayor announced a half-million dollar investment to ensure ready-to-heat meals are accessible for impacted residents.

"At Second Harvest, we are continuing to see an incredibly high level of need for food assistance,” said Leslie Bacho, CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank of Silicon Valley. “Since this pandemic hit, we immediately saw this dramatic increase in need.”

At the beginning of the pandemic, volunteers, community agencies and City team members have actively staffed food distribution sites across San José to ensure food delivery and distribution efficiency.

However, due to a mandatory stay-at-home order in Santa Clara County, drive-thru distribution sites are expanding distribution days and hours to provide even more meals for impacted communities.

Boxes of fresh produce and food await distribution while volunteers load additional boxes for distribution. Photo courtesy of Veggielution.

“By June, we were serving a half million people every single month. That's twice the number of people we were serving pre-pandemic,” Bacho explained. “And we've continued to see that level of need continue month after month.”

This month has seen an even greater need with COVID cases rising and uncertainty over benefits and other assistance programs going into the New Year. However, even some nonprofits and distribution locations may be closed or have altered days and/or hours during the week.

The Winter Holidays Food Resource Information page will help you navigate and find available food resources this week at bit.ly/SJWinterMeals.

To find out how you can access food resources in your neighborhood, please visit bit.ly/SCCFoodMap. You can also visit siliconvalleystrong.org, call 2-1-1, a 24-hour multilingual service or text your zip code to "898211".

Second Harvest is in need of volunteers and donations. Visit www.shfb.org to learn how you can help today.

It's also not too late to volunteer for the holidays! Volunteers helping nonprofits distribute food necessities are allowed under the current stay-at-home order.

Each nonprofit organization will be able to provide information about their COVID-19 compliance policies and procedures. #SiliconValleyStrong

Sign up for a volunteer opportunity (below) or submit an application to volunteer at SV Strong: https://siliconvalleystrong.org/volunteer/

#SiliconValleyStrong #SJCares #KeepSJHealthy