A South Bay community service agency is giving away more holiday groceries this year than ever before to local families because of what the organization says is growing financial need.
Sunnyvale Community Services (SCS) will give out a record number of food items to 750 local families for Thanksgiving. The meal distribution started Monday and will end Wednesday. Organizers estimate 2,000 meals will be given.
"We're up from last year," said Carolyn Alexander, director of operations at Sunnyvale Community Services. "I think more people are being impacting because of the rising rents."
Alexander says while the number of clients served has increased, the clientele has also changed. She says many families they used to serve have been priced out of the area. Now, SCS clients are people who had been financially stable for years.
"People who are coming in need more help than they have in the past," Alexander said. SCS says seniors seem to be the most vulnerable population.
Cars have been filling the SCS parking lot this week as families move through the drive-thru meal donation pick-up. Thanksgiving groceries were donated by Second Harvest Food Bank as well as local churches, schools and Boy Scouts groups.
Many families received turkey, gravy, potatoes, vegetables, eggs, milk and bread--all the fixings for a traditional Thanksgiving feast. Yet to feed its ethnically diverse clientele, SCS also gave chicken, noodles, seaweed, soup and tortillas.
Local
Sunnyvale residents with proof of residency, income verification and documentation of who lives in the home are eligible for a Thanksgiving meal.
Interested families can contact SCS at 408-738-4321 for more information.
